Pettitte close to returning
The New York Yankees have managed to maintain their lead in the AL East despite one of their aces Andy Pettitte being out for over a month. Before his groin injury on July 18th, Pettitte was on pace to have his best season ever with a record of 11-2 with a 2.88 ERA. He was one of the top candidates for the Cy Young award.
Pettitte was scheduled to return sooner but suffered a setback after pitching a simulated inning a couple of weeks ago. He has thrown some pitches in the bullpen recently and said he is feeling a lot better. In his latest bullpen session, he threw 35 pitches and said his arm was feeling better than in his last session.
Despite the progress, the 38-year-old is not rushing back and says it will still be at least two weeks before he returns. Manager Joe Girardi agreed that estimation is accurate: "That sounds about right as long as we don't have any setbacks," Girardi said.
Pettitte will soon start throwing to hitters after a couple more bullpen sessions. However, with the minor league season set to end soon, Pettitte may not get a chance to go on a rehab assignment before his return.
“The problem is there might not be any minor league games left for him to pitch in by then," Girardi said. "The only game in town might be up here."
The Yankees have had some problems with their starting rotation in Pettitte’s absence. Javier Vasquez recently lost his role in the starting rotation and A.J Burnett is in danger of losing his as well. The Yankees’ bats have compensated for that and they have also had fantastic pitching from C.C Sabathia who may be heading for another Cy Young award this season.
Pettitte will really come in handy down the stretch. The Yankees have seven more games against the Tampa Bay Rays and six more games against the Boston Red Sox, who are still not entirely out of the race yet.
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