Andy Pettitte Quotations

We still need to win some games and try to close this thing out. Hopefully, we can do that sooner rather than later.

What the starters have done over there, with all those complete games, it's amazing. I've pitched in so many games and I don't think I've ever had a complete game. It's going to be a great series, some great pitching, low scoring games. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Last year, they did it without me. Hopefully, this year I can help us get past this round.

She wanted him to keep playing, you know?

She wanted him to keep playing, ... is probably the best place for him to be. He'll have time to grieve after the game.

I was surprised we put the runs on him, ... I'm not going to lie to you. He's tough.

I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a blow.

I felt all right, not great, ... They battled me pretty hard. I felt like I was getting ahead of them for the most part. I just couldn't put guys away. It seemed like I was in trouble every inning as far as baserunners and stuff like that.

I found my change-up again last year, ... I didn't have it for probably my last six or seven years in New York. I didn't have a good change-up that I was using the course of a game. It was nice to be able to find that pitch last year while being hurt.

We took a huge step to get to the World Series. We've got a taste of it now. It's the same old story. We need to keep the club together and look forward to next year.

I was just bad, ... I threw a lot of balls right in the heart of the zone.

I threw my street clothes on and left, so that was my day.

Last year (2004) we took a big step by winning in the playoffs for the first time. This year was another huge step. We've got a taste of it now. Now it's the same old story, try to keep your club together and look forward to next year.

It'd be nice to get a hit every once in a while. But I guess they don't pay me to do that.

That wasn't the reason I was so bad.

We haven't spent time together like we did in New York.

We're not down. We're in a situation, you look at it, we've got three games to win one. We'd have loved to have gotten it done (Monday) for sure, but we didn't. We've got to go there, we've got to play hard, we can't make any mistakes, can't give them any extra outs. We've got to make some pitches, and we need to get it done.

You know how you just don't like guys on the other team sometimes? It's funny because growing up I loved Roger (Clemens), loved to watch Roger pitch. Then when I was first in the big leagues and he was for the other team, I hated him.

Whatever I do, I love to win. I don't care if it's tennis or ping pong, I'll kill myself to win it.

It only took me 21 runs and five years to get a win here.

Hitters get paid a lot of money to hit. Let's face it, man, sometimes they just do.

I try to sit down at night before they go to bed and read the Bible with them and do little devotionals and pray with them. I think if you instill it in them when they are young, they'll remember when they grow up. I raise them in church. When the doors are open, I want to be there. My kids love to go. So does my wife.

I was throwing a lot harder than I ever have at the end of last year. I got to ninety-five (mph) a couple of times in the World Series and I'm more of an eighty-eight or eighty-nine guy who relies on location and movement.

Your pitching coach is almost like your spouse. He's someone to go to when you want to gripe and complain. The big thing for me with Mel (Stottlemyre) is that we've been through so much together. He's been through everything I've been through on the mound. He was a Yankee who won twenty games in New York and a Yankee who didn't win twenty games in New York. For me, he's been there and that's what makes a good pitching coach. He's a good man, too.

I'm going to give up hits, so I'm going to need to get some ground balls, double plays and stuff like that. That's just kind of my game.

I feel like I should go out there and throw a shutout every time I pitch. If we score one [run] and I give up two, then I didn't do my job as far as I'm concerned.

It's absolutely amazing what happens when you're consistent in your walk and you're consistent in the way you live your life.

It kills me when I make a bad pitch...I want to be perfect out there.

I wanted to play for the New York Yankees. That was the bottom line. I wanted to be there and play in that new stadium.

Over my career, I think I've shown can make a big pitch.

When you build relationships, you get to share your beliefs. It gives you the opportunity to share your faith with other people.

I'm not a negative-minded person. But maybe to keep me humble, I look more at my bad games in big situations than good ones.

I count it an honor to play with some guys that I've watched play on television, and may be in the Hall of Fame some day.

If you put the ball in the right place, you don't have to throw hard.

You've got to have camaraderie or togetherness on a baseball team if you want to win.

When I take the mound in Yankee Stadium I feel like my stuff is going to be better than ever.

I've pitched in a lot of big games.

He (Tommy Pettitte [father] coached me as kid. He bought all the books and videos and tried to learn as much about pitching as he could. But once I was in high school, he never tried to be my coach.

Whenever someone has the ability to impact people's lives, I think that's one of the greatest things that God gives us as individuals.

Never is a concept the Yankees won't ever come across.

It gives me great peace to know that no matter how good or how bad I do, the Lord loves me. That's all that really matters to me. Baseball isn't what everything is about. It's about the way I'm being a Christian husband, a Christian father, or the way I'm living my life and trying to be a Christian testimony to people.

I let the other guys handle the talking. I love playing.

This team reminds me of my early days in New York,

It was a little different for me here, because this just seemed like such a huge mountain to climb to be able to get to the World Series with the team that we have. I'm proud of the guys.

That one will stay real close to me, ... I remember that one like it was yesterday just because of being so young. It was a special moment in my career.

They're for real. There's no doubt about that.

It's just a good two-seamer down and away,

It wasn't great and they battled me pretty hard. I was getting ahead of them for the most part but I just couldn't put guys away.

It's unbelievable, a freak accident. I saw the ball the whole way. I thought I could avoid it, but it kept breaking into the inside of my knee.

It's going to be a battle all the way until the end. We feel like we're strong, ... We'll be able to pull through it and get this thing done. We still feel very confident in that.

It's getting better every day as far as the soreness and all that.

It's special. You work all year to make it reality and get to the playoffs.

It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy coming back here. We'd won three games in a row, and we were one strike away. I'm sure they had to be feeling down, and now they have to be feeling great. But if we come out early and take some of their momentum away, and we get Roy going the way he can pitch, everything will be OK.

It's definitely a little different, ... This is right there with my first trip in '96. Obviously we went so many times after that in New York, but this is just extremely, extremely special and gratifying to be able to help this organization get to this World Series.

It seemed like I was in trouble in every inning, but the guys picked me up and played great defense and scored some runs.

It was a big series obviously. All the starts are big right now. I want to win, I want to try to get it done after last year.

I'm going to be able to make that start no problem. There is no concern at all.

I never had to ask him one time to come. It was all his, ... When I signed, Roger called me and said, 'I think I want to play, man.'

I'll do whatever they want. The way I look at it is I have one more start, whenever it is, and then I'm looking forward to the rest.

He's unbelievable. His arm and his body is so strong, if anything ever aggravates him, it's his leg. He could probably pitch for another 10 years, as far as his arm goes.

If I knew, I wouldn't tell anybody anyway.

The hardest part was getting my leg up the day that I pitched because of the swelling and stuff, ... I was able to do that (Friday), so I feel a lot better. There's no concern at all. I really wasn't concerned on making my start. I'll be fine for my start.

All you can say is, if a guy is tipping pitches, you just hope he and the pitching coach can work on it, look at some video or whatever, and see it, ... before you screw up in a World Series.