Yankees Lose Sabathia, Then Pettitte to Injuries

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Yankees Lose Sabathia, Then Pettitte to Injuries

By TIM ROHAN
Published: June 27, 2012
Andy Pettitte had been told he would miss at least six weeks; a sharp grounder had fractured his left fibula Wednesday, just above the ankle, and the pain had been too much. He was fitted for a black boot that went up to his knee, given crutches and told to elevate his leg for a few days — maybe he could move better by Friday.
Then he saw C. C. Sabathia in the clubhouse. Sabathia’s left groin had tugged Sunday, and he had considered pitching through it until it did not improve during a bullpen session Tuesday. As a precaution that morning, the Yankees had placed Sabathia on the 15-day disabled list. He would miss two starts.


“Well, maybe you’ll feel a little bit better now that I’m on the D.L,” Pettitte said to Sabathia, whose strikeout rate and consistency have been somehow matched by the ageless Pettitte.

The Yankees said that Pettitte would not be able to throw for at least six weeks, and he may not be able to start again for 10 to 12 because his left arm will need to be strengthened.

After the Yankees’ 5-4 win over the Indians at the Stadium, after Pettitte struck out seven batters in four innings, General Manager Brian Cashman had the unenviable task of putting his humpty-dumpty staff back together again.

Michael Pineda’s torn right labrum, Mariano Rivera’s torn anterior cruciate ligament, Sabathia’s strained adductor muscle, Pettitte’s broken ankle — his top three starters and baseball’s surest closer were all out.

It could have been worse; it could have been 2005, Cashman said, when he needed three starters at the All-Star Break and called a “Statue of Liberty” desperation-type play.

“ ‘I’ll take your tired, your poor,’ ” Cashman recalled Wednesday. He added: “ ‘Just give me whatever you got.’ So we were out there looking for anything, and running anyone out there because we just didn’t have anything.”

Al Leiter, Shawn Chacon, and, briefly, Aaron Small, Tim Redding and Darrell May replaced the injured — Chien-Ming Wang, Kevin Brown and Carl Pavano.

Pettitte will likely be placed on the 60-day disabled list, Cashman said, making room on the 40-man major league roster for Adam Warren, the Yankees’ fourth-round pick in 2009 who will start his first major league game in Sabathia’s place Friday. On Monday, Freddy Garcia will pitch in Pettitte’s place. David Phelps will be called up too, but after Monday, Cashman made no promises.

“Maybe I’ll feel better down the stretch,” Pettitte said. “It’s frustrating because I’ve been feeling so good. You just want to go out there and do your job.”A reporter listed the current injury report for Cashman, and he acknowledged he had forgotten he once had Pineda in the rotation. “Those are some pretty big names you added together there,” Cashman said. Although he said he preferred to fill Pettitte’s and Sabathia’s spots from within, he seemed open to a trade.

The often-spectacular, often-average Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova would headline his new staff; the two pitchers who had battled for the No. 5 spot in spring training, Phil Hughes and Garcia, would file in after.

Before Pettitte was injured, the Yankees had planned to pitch Garcia on Friday. Instead he was needed Wednesday to clean up the fifth inning after Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada surrendered the lead.

Garcia’s improved arm speed has made for a faster velocity and a sharper slider, said Manager Joe Girardi, offering a case for why Garcia’s sluggish April (19 earned runs) should be excused for his lights-out May and June (three earned runs). On cue, Garcia held the Indians hitless in the sixth and seventh.

The morning’s well-meaning contingency plan had meant less when a grounder by the Indians’ Casey Kotchman struck Pettitte. Pettitte, who had only been knocked around figuratively in two of his nine starts, convinced Manager Joe Girardi to let him pitch. He threw one pitch to the next batter, hobbled and exited the game.

Sabathia expected to return after the All-Star break, and, isolated, his prognosis was not that bleak. If needed, Sabathia could have pitched through the strain, but “two starts is sure better than missing 7 or 8,” Girardi said before the game, before Pettitte was injured.

The day the Yankees lost their two best starters, Garcia pitched admirably and Robinson Cano hit his seventh home run in 10 games, a two-run shot that gave the Yankees a lead they would not lose, a reminder that the team with the most home runs in the majors can survive on offense alone.

Rivera’s replacement, Rafael Soriano, loaded the bases in the ninth, walked in a run, and pitched with the tying run on third. But Soriano shut the door, reverberating the message: though messy, the “Statue of Liberty” can win games, too.