Mariners foil Pettitte, Yanks
NEW YORK — Andy Pettitte repeatedly shook his head, smiled and glanced down at the table in the interview room while he tried — in his “aw shucks” manner — to find one thing that made his return to the big leagues feel strange.
Pettitte was back on the mound Sunday for the Yankees, getting lavished with adoration while pitching into the seventh inning despite giving up a pair of two-run homers in New York’s 6-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
It was as if he never left.
“I just cannot believe how comfortable this is for me,” Pettitte said. “I don’t know how to explain it.”
Nearly lost amid the excitement over Pettitte’s first major league appearance since retiring after the 2010 season was party crasher Kevin Millwood’s performance for Seattle — helped by three double plays. The 37-year-old Millwood (1-4) gave up three hits in seven innings and got his 2,000th career strikeout as Seattle avoided a three-game sweep.
The Yankees tried to prevent their old pal Pettitte from taking the loss with a rally in the eighth against four Seattle relievers. Robinson Cano was walked with two outs by Charlie Furbush with the bases loaded to make it 4-2. Mark Teixeira, though, struck out to end the inning.
The lovefest for Pettitte (0-1) began when the lefty appeared with several players in videos welcoming fans to Yankee Stadium after batting practice.
The cheers grew as he strolled out to the bullpen for warmups and fans rose for a standing ovation when the five-time World Series champion followed his teammates onto the field for the first inning.
“I thought it was so awesome. I was so excited. I know we lost today and that’s what a lot of people are going to focus on — I could really care less about that,” Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher said. “We got our boy back.”
The Core Four member even got special treatment from the Bleacher Creatures. They broke protocol after their roll call and started a chant for Pettitte.
