Welcome Back Kotter

Throw a mustache and a 'fro on Andy Pettitte and John Sebastian could start singing the theme to the Gabe Kaplan sitcom. Watching Andy on the mound in last night's 1-1, 10-inning, tie with the Atlanta Braves was a bit surreal. Especially with Roger Clemens sitting in the 1st base stands near the Yankees dugout.

Pettitte wasn't as sharp as he usually is, barely throwing more strikes than balls in his 49 pitch effort. But, he impressed the Rocket and the fans when he escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam, with a strikeout and a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play. Pettitte pitched most of the game with a small cut on his left hand after a piece of a broken bat nicked him (no, it was not thrown by Clemens).

It's still hard to believe that Pettitte left in the first place. The Yankees clearly missed his presence in the 3 years he was gone (like when they had to turn to Kevin Brown in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS). Pettitte was working his way up the ladder of all-time great Yankees pitchers, not just the lineage of left-handers (Whitey, Gator, Lefty, etc.). His 149 wins in pinstripes is the 9th-best mark on the team. He should finish in the top 5 if he stays healthy and plays another year. If Pettitte hadn't left, Whitey Ford's mark of 236 wins would not necessarily have been out of reach.

Here's to a healthy year for the Andyman!

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Mariano Rivera had a nice 1-2-3 inning against Cincy, and threw a change up- almost as rare a blue whale (David Wells?).

Bronson Sardinha stood out among all the veterans with another big 9th inning hit. Sardinha hit a walk-off 2-run home run on Monday to beat the Tigers. Last night he delivered the game tieing single in the 9th.