Pettitte: "I Was Just Not Good"
Teixeira sits out with an ankle injury
By JAY COHEN and JIM SCOTT
Updated 8:03 AM EST, Thu, Jun 4, 2009
Andy Pettitte struggled though five innings and the Yankees offense failed to break through against Scott Feldman in a 4-2 loss to the Rangers on a rainy Wednesday night.
“I was just not good,” said Pettitte, who left his previous start with a stiff back. “That's all there is to it.”
Pettitte (5-2) never looked comfortable on a damp and unseasonably cold night in the Bronx. A steady rain fell on the field for about two hours but it let up right before the game, delaying the start by 12 minutes before giving way to a chilly, 55-degree evening.
Pettitte uncharacteristically issued leadoff walks in three of the first four innings and finished with a season-high six in his shortest outing of the year. The 36-year-old lefty walked five in his previous start against Cleveland before leaving in the sixth with a stiff back.
“I was behind, I couldn't get ahead of anybody,” Pettitte said. “It was embarrassing, actually. We're playing too good for me to go out there and scuffle like that.”
The Rangers took advantage of Pettitte's control problems to score three times in the first. Ian Kinsler walked and scored on Nelson Cruz's one-out single. Murphy followed Cruz's hit with another walk, setting up Marlon Byrd's run-scoring fielder's choice.
Pettitte, who said his back was fine, helped the Rangers again in the second. He threw wildly to first on a pickoff attempt, allowing Andrus to reach second. The 20-year-old speedster stole third and scored on Kinsler's single to make it 4-1.
The Yankees were without first baseman Mark Teixeira, scratched with a bruised right ankle. Teixeira was injured when he made a hard slide to break up a double play in New York's 12-3 victory Tuesday night.
Jorge Posada homered for the second straight day for New York, which had won five of six and 16 of 20.
Posada's drive leading off the seventh was his eighth of the season and No. 91 at the $1.5 billion field. The record for most homers in the first 25 games at a major league ballpark is 95 at Houston's Enron Field in 2000, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC New York
First Published: Jun 4, 2009 5:48 AM EST
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