GaryMrMets
10-22-2005, 01:33 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/357786p-304873c.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/lupica_m.jpg
World turns to ex-Yankees
For Andy, Roger a great escape
The first two starts for the Astros in the 2005 World Series go to Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. They were two of the last three starts in the '03 Series for the Yankees. So the Yankees have pitched their way back into the Series. Just not the way they were supposed to.
And it is not just Clemens and Pettitte. Clemens' Game 1 opponent is Jose Contreras. And somewhere out in the bullpen for the White Sox is El Duque, wondering if there could be a World Series moment for him like the one he had in the first round against the Red Sox, where he got out of bases loaded and no outs and did as much as anybody to knock the defending champions of the world into next season.
You can say that not all of this is the Yankees' fault, that they were worried about Pettitte's elbow, even though they frankly got a lot more concerned once he was out the door. You can say that El Duque was old and they thought his arm might finally fall off like a fender falling off an old car. And the Yankees will always be able to say, how could you blame us for Clemens when Clemens retired?
You can sure talk about how happy everybody was when Contreras left town, everybody having decided that Contreras could never pitch in New York. It is always the best excuse when Yankees don't play their best, or get the best out of somebody like Contreras. New York did it!
The fact is that three ex-Yankees go in the first two games of the World Series. Of course the big stuff here is Clemens and Pettitte going for the Astros, reminding all of us once again how it was just two years ago that Gerry Hunsicker, the Astros' general manager at the time, threw as great a 1-2 punch with free agent pitchers as anybody has thrown in baseball history.
Now those pitchers are starting Games 1 and 2 against the White Sox.
"We thought that if there was even an outside shot of getting Andy Pettitte to come pitch for the Astros, we had to try," Hunsicker was saying yesterday.
Hunsicker quit the Astros a year ago, which probably means he quit owner Drayton McLane. But Hunsicker was there nine years, and did more to get the Astros to their first World Series than anybody.
"Everybody seemed to have it as a foregone conclusion that Pettitte would stay with the Yankees," Hunsicker said. "And realistically, I didn't think there was any way that we could compete with the Yankees. But I still felt that we owed it to ourselves to do everything we possibly could. I mean, what did we have to lose? Who wouldn't want Andy Pettitte in their rotation? Here was a proven winner, a proven champion, someone who could mentor our young pitchers."
Hunsicker laughed over the telephone. "Never in my wildest dreams, in my wildest imagination, did I go into it thinking that not only would I get him as a mentor, but that I'd get his mentor as well."
Meaning Roger Clemens, the same Clemens who said he had retired after his last start against the Marlins in the 2003 World Series, who said that the only way he'd ever pitch again was in the Olympics maybe, who walked off that mound at Pro Player Stadium and waved goodbye to all of us.
For Hunsicker, though, the first order of business was Pettitte. The Jeter of the Yankee rotation. Maybe the Yankees really were as worried about Pettitte's elbow as they now say they were (even if they were still throwing money at him on his way to Houston). Or maybe they were just dumb enough to think that Pettitte, always such a good boy around the Yankees, would never leave. But whatever face-saving they want to do now, no matter how much they say they couldn't compete with Pettitte wanting to go home, understand something:
If George Steinbrenner and the Yankees had really wanted Pettitte to remain a Yankee, he would have remained a Yankee, and there was nothing Gerry Hunsicker was going to do about it.
Except Steinbrenner didn't lock Pettitte down when the Yankees still had exclusive negotiating rights to him. Then he didn't exactly act like Pettitte was his No. 1 priority when he did become a free agent.
All of a sudden, the most surprised guy at the table was Hunsicker. Because he was still in the game.
"About a week into it," Hunsicker said, "we got a call from his agents saying that we might have a better chance than we thought. And so I thought, well, that's encouraging. That's exciting. But I never let myself get too excited, because I still had the Yankees staring me in the face."
He did. Hunsicker beat them at their own game, closing in on Pettitte until he closed the deal. By then the drum-beating for Clemens, a real hometown hero, was being heard all over Houston, all day every day. "A frenzy of civic recruiting," Hunsicker said. The Astros had Pettitte and now their fans wanted them both.
"Once we had Andy," Hunsicker said, "his role became chief recruiter, and chief cheerleader."
Clemens signed a month after Pettitte. Hunsicker says that even now when he sees them pitching for the Astros, he has the same thought he did when he signed them.
"I can't believe they're both here," he said.
Pettitte did have a bum elbow last year, when the Astros went to Game 7 against the Cardinals before losing. So he and Clemens couldn't pitch the Astros to the Series. Gerry Hunsicker's dream delayed. Now one year later, they do. You can never have enough Yankee pitching at this time of year.
The Pitch
ROGER CLEMENS:
YANKEES 1999-2003 Regular Season: 77-36, 3.85 Playoffs: 7-4, 3.24
ASTROS 2005 Regular season: 13-8, 1.87 Playoffs: 2-1, 4.50
ANDY PETTITTE:
YANKEES 1995-2003 Regular Season: 149-78, 3.94 Playoffs: 13-8, 4.05
Astros 2005 Regular season: 17-9, 2.39 Playoffs: 1-1, 4.66
ORLANDO HERNANDEZ:
YANKEES 1998-2002, 2004 Regular Season: 61-40, 3.80 Playoffs: 9-3, 2.65
White Sox 2005 Regular season: 9-9, 5.12 Playoffs: 0-0, 0.00
JOSE CONTRERAS:
YANKEES 2003-04 Regular Season: 15-7, 4.64 Playoffs: 0-2, 5.73
White Sox 2005 Regular season: 15-7, 3.61 Playoffs: 2-1, 2.88
Originally published on October 20, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/444-clemens_pitch.JPG
Roger Clemens
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/660-pettitte_pitch.JPG
Andy Pettitte
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/606-hernandez_pitch.JPG
Orlando Hernandez
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/475-contreras_jose.JPG
Jose Contreras
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/lupica_m.jpg
World turns to ex-Yankees
For Andy, Roger a great escape
The first two starts for the Astros in the 2005 World Series go to Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. They were two of the last three starts in the '03 Series for the Yankees. So the Yankees have pitched their way back into the Series. Just not the way they were supposed to.
And it is not just Clemens and Pettitte. Clemens' Game 1 opponent is Jose Contreras. And somewhere out in the bullpen for the White Sox is El Duque, wondering if there could be a World Series moment for him like the one he had in the first round against the Red Sox, where he got out of bases loaded and no outs and did as much as anybody to knock the defending champions of the world into next season.
You can say that not all of this is the Yankees' fault, that they were worried about Pettitte's elbow, even though they frankly got a lot more concerned once he was out the door. You can say that El Duque was old and they thought his arm might finally fall off like a fender falling off an old car. And the Yankees will always be able to say, how could you blame us for Clemens when Clemens retired?
You can sure talk about how happy everybody was when Contreras left town, everybody having decided that Contreras could never pitch in New York. It is always the best excuse when Yankees don't play their best, or get the best out of somebody like Contreras. New York did it!
The fact is that three ex-Yankees go in the first two games of the World Series. Of course the big stuff here is Clemens and Pettitte going for the Astros, reminding all of us once again how it was just two years ago that Gerry Hunsicker, the Astros' general manager at the time, threw as great a 1-2 punch with free agent pitchers as anybody has thrown in baseball history.
Now those pitchers are starting Games 1 and 2 against the White Sox.
"We thought that if there was even an outside shot of getting Andy Pettitte to come pitch for the Astros, we had to try," Hunsicker was saying yesterday.
Hunsicker quit the Astros a year ago, which probably means he quit owner Drayton McLane. But Hunsicker was there nine years, and did more to get the Astros to their first World Series than anybody.
"Everybody seemed to have it as a foregone conclusion that Pettitte would stay with the Yankees," Hunsicker said. "And realistically, I didn't think there was any way that we could compete with the Yankees. But I still felt that we owed it to ourselves to do everything we possibly could. I mean, what did we have to lose? Who wouldn't want Andy Pettitte in their rotation? Here was a proven winner, a proven champion, someone who could mentor our young pitchers."
Hunsicker laughed over the telephone. "Never in my wildest dreams, in my wildest imagination, did I go into it thinking that not only would I get him as a mentor, but that I'd get his mentor as well."
Meaning Roger Clemens, the same Clemens who said he had retired after his last start against the Marlins in the 2003 World Series, who said that the only way he'd ever pitch again was in the Olympics maybe, who walked off that mound at Pro Player Stadium and waved goodbye to all of us.
For Hunsicker, though, the first order of business was Pettitte. The Jeter of the Yankee rotation. Maybe the Yankees really were as worried about Pettitte's elbow as they now say they were (even if they were still throwing money at him on his way to Houston). Or maybe they were just dumb enough to think that Pettitte, always such a good boy around the Yankees, would never leave. But whatever face-saving they want to do now, no matter how much they say they couldn't compete with Pettitte wanting to go home, understand something:
If George Steinbrenner and the Yankees had really wanted Pettitte to remain a Yankee, he would have remained a Yankee, and there was nothing Gerry Hunsicker was going to do about it.
Except Steinbrenner didn't lock Pettitte down when the Yankees still had exclusive negotiating rights to him. Then he didn't exactly act like Pettitte was his No. 1 priority when he did become a free agent.
All of a sudden, the most surprised guy at the table was Hunsicker. Because he was still in the game.
"About a week into it," Hunsicker said, "we got a call from his agents saying that we might have a better chance than we thought. And so I thought, well, that's encouraging. That's exciting. But I never let myself get too excited, because I still had the Yankees staring me in the face."
He did. Hunsicker beat them at their own game, closing in on Pettitte until he closed the deal. By then the drum-beating for Clemens, a real hometown hero, was being heard all over Houston, all day every day. "A frenzy of civic recruiting," Hunsicker said. The Astros had Pettitte and now their fans wanted them both.
"Once we had Andy," Hunsicker said, "his role became chief recruiter, and chief cheerleader."
Clemens signed a month after Pettitte. Hunsicker says that even now when he sees them pitching for the Astros, he has the same thought he did when he signed them.
"I can't believe they're both here," he said.
Pettitte did have a bum elbow last year, when the Astros went to Game 7 against the Cardinals before losing. So he and Clemens couldn't pitch the Astros to the Series. Gerry Hunsicker's dream delayed. Now one year later, they do. You can never have enough Yankee pitching at this time of year.
The Pitch
ROGER CLEMENS:
YANKEES 1999-2003 Regular Season: 77-36, 3.85 Playoffs: 7-4, 3.24
ASTROS 2005 Regular season: 13-8, 1.87 Playoffs: 2-1, 4.50
ANDY PETTITTE:
YANKEES 1995-2003 Regular Season: 149-78, 3.94 Playoffs: 13-8, 4.05
Astros 2005 Regular season: 17-9, 2.39 Playoffs: 1-1, 4.66
ORLANDO HERNANDEZ:
YANKEES 1998-2002, 2004 Regular Season: 61-40, 3.80 Playoffs: 9-3, 2.65
White Sox 2005 Regular season: 9-9, 5.12 Playoffs: 0-0, 0.00
JOSE CONTRERAS:
YANKEES 2003-04 Regular Season: 15-7, 4.64 Playoffs: 0-2, 5.73
White Sox 2005 Regular season: 15-7, 3.61 Playoffs: 2-1, 2.88
Originally published on October 20, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/444-clemens_pitch.JPG
Roger Clemens
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/660-pettitte_pitch.JPG
Andy Pettitte
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/606-hernandez_pitch.JPG
Orlando Hernandez
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/475-contreras_jose.JPG
Jose Contreras