ANDY PETTITE JUST FELL SHORT OF A PERFECT GAME IN THE TOP OF THE FIRST

Unfortunate news came at Yankee Stadium yesterday when ace pitcher Andy Pettite just missed his chance to join the pantheon of major league pitchers who have pitched perfect games in their careers. Pettite was on his way to the pitching performance of a lifetime by not giving up any hits while pitching against the visiting Cincinnati Reds yesterday, but Reds shortstop Rey Reyez shot a single up the middle in the top of the first inning to ruin his streak . With one out and only 26 more to go before reaching the unbelievable feat, Pettite threw a weak slider right down the middle, which Reyez quickly slapped back up the middle past a diving Jeter. When asked about Pettite’s impressive stuff before the Reyes hit, manager Joe Girardi said, “he was going so strong in the first inning. Nothing but great stuff. That second curveball he threw to their top hitter was just untouchable.” Pettite ended up striking the Reds’ first hitter with three pitches, but two pitches later, Pettite faced the red hot Reyez who capitalized on Pettite’s mistake pitch. The pressure was obviously high for all those who were in the field during the momentous 2nd out of the game. Jeter himself had to admit some guilt on behalf of Reyez’ single. “Andy was this close and I kind of feel a bit guilty - if only I dove a bit further, you know,” Jeter said in the after-game press conference. The overly emotional starting pitcher threw his glove when Reyez got the hit and noticeably screamed “fuck it all.” Girardi adds: “You know he must have been a bit tired. After pitching those few pitches, his arm might have been hurting him. It was all perfect till then, so you gotta consider the strain on his body.” Although he didn’t attain a perfect game, he did go 6 strong innings with 3 strike-outs and gave up only 3 runs and 4 walks. “I mean look,” Girardi continues, “he should be incredibly proud of himself. He wasn’t perfect, but at the end of the day, he pitched one of the finest games of his career and, from a team perspective, we got a win out of it, so all’s well that ends well.” In other news, that quote was the first time a sports manager cited Shakespeare since John Madden was quoted as saying, “this is the twelfth night in a row that Manning fumbled the ball.”