MY PLAYOFF MVP? ANDY PETTITTE

Yankees' ace is playoff stopper

Baseball has a lot of trophies. They have one for the best pitcher in the regular season, the best reliever, the best batter, the best fielders, the best manager and so on and so on.

In the post season they have an MVP trophy for the League Championship Series and an MVP trophy for the World Series. However, I think Major League Baseball is missing one. I'd like to call it the OPMVP or the Overall Playoffs Most Valuable Player.

This award would be for the guy who has continually stuck himself in the breach throughout the playoffs. The guy who time and again tells his teammates, "rally around me boys. I'll get you through this." This is for the guy who always steps it up in crunch time and more often than not delivers.

In my mind, after watching the New York Yankees throughout the 2003 playoffs there is only one player who pops into my mind. That player is Andy Pettitte. Pettitte is the guy who has, through his deeds on the field, silently said, "rally around me boys....."

Game 2 of the American League Divisional Series was the starting point for this warrior's remarkable post season. After the Yankees had dropped the first game of the ALDS to the Minnesota Twins manager Joe Torre handed the ball to Pettitte. Andy finished the regular season with a 21-8 record and a 4.02 ERA. He had 180 strikouts against 50 walks. The Yankees knew that if they dropped both games at Yankee Stadium and headed back to Minnesota down 0-2 their playoff run might be short-lived.

Pettitte faced off against the Twins' Brad Radke. In a classic pitchers duel it was Radke who blinked first. The Yankees scored 3 runs to knock Radke out in the 7th inning. Pettitte, in the meantime, had given up only 1 run in 7 innings of work. He had struck out 10, while walking three batters. He only gave up 4 hits. He left the game in the capable hands of Mariano Rivera who shut down the Twins with 2 innings of scoreless relieve to earn the save. The Yankees went back to Minnesota with the series tied 1-1. As we all know by now, unless you've been living in a cave, the Yanks took the next two games in Minnesota to close out the series 3-1.

Knocking out the Twins set the Bombers squarely in the path of their longest and fiercest rival, the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had been eating the Yankees dust all season long not to mention since 1920 and they wanted to beat the pinstripers in the worst way. They set to accomplishing that task in Game 1 of the ALCS when knuckleballer Tim Wakefield completely baffled the Yankees lineup with a dancing knuckleball. Wakefield and the Red Sox beat the Bombers 5-2.

Once again, Joe Torre gave the rock to Andy Pettitte for Game 2. No way did the Yankees want to go to Fenway Park trailing the Sox 0-2. Although not his sharpest performance, Andy kept the Yankees in the game as he went 6-2/3 innings while giving up only 2 runs on 5 hits. The Yankees finally got to Red Sox starter Derek Lowe for 6 runs and at game's end Pettitte had earned his second playoff victory without a defeat.

Game 6 of the ALCS was played at Yankee Stadium. Due to an earlier rainout that postponed Game 4 Joe Torre had to re-shuffle his rotation and Andy didn't pitch for 5 days. The extra day may have been too much for the Texan as he lasted only 5 innnings , while being rocked by the Red Sox for 4 runs on 8 hits. Pettitte definitely didn't look sharp. The Yankees eventually lost the game 9-6. That tied the series at 3 games apiece. That was the bad news. The good news was the Yankees took Game 7 and the League Championship Series on Aaron Boone's dramatic 11th inning walkoff home run off Boston's Tim Wakefield.

The Yankees were back in their customary, October surroundings. They were getting ready to start their 39th campaign in the 100th anniversary of the Fall Classic. This time their opponent was the Florida Marlins. A team with a combination of young gunslingers and seasoned veterans, led by a crafy, old gambler named Jack McKeon.

The Yankees, obviously suffering from a case of "emotional hangover," came out flat and they fell flat on their faces in Game 1, losing to the Marlins 3-2. There were little highlights from the Bombers that will make it to the forthcoming 2003 season DVD.

For the third straight playoff series the Yankees found themselves down one game to none. For the third straight time manager Joe Torre went with his 21 game winner. Like the old adage, "if it ain't broke don't fix it," Andy Pettitte took the mound for Game 2 of the World Series to try and keep the series in check.

Working on just three days of rest Pettitte was nothing short of masterful. For 8-2/3 innings he kept the Florida Marlins off the bases and off the scoreboard. The only run scored on Pettitte came courtesy of third baseman Aaron Boone who bobbled a routine ball hit to him and he was unable to turn a game ending force play at second base. Pettitte gave up a single to Derrek Lee, which scored Luis Castillo from second ruining the shutout bid. Jose Contreras relieved Andy and got the final out to end the game.

Andy Pettitte, this post-season has been nails. He has gone out in each of the playoff series (ALDS, ALCS and World Series) and restored order. For all the hoopla made about how the Yankees buy all their players and buy championships let's get something straight Andy Pettitte is a home grown product. He has spent his entire career with the Yankees. In the nine years Pettitte has been with the club he has compiled a 149-87 record with a 3.94 ERA. That's a winning percentage of .656, which means Andy wins nearly 2 out of every three games he pitches in. That's money in my humble opinion.

Fifteen days after the final out is recorded in the 2003 World Series Andy Pettitte becomes an unrestricted free agent. Memo to George Steinbrenner: You don't turn out 21 game winners and guys who pitch like Andy Pettitte's pitched in the 2003 playoffs.

You better believe that Andy is my Overall Playoffs Most Valuable Player. And if the Boss has any smarts at all he needs to re-sign this guy. I don't ever want to seem Andy Pettitte pitching in anything, but New York pinstripes. Do you?

PLAY BALL!





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