Andy Pettitte, the 40-year-old left-hander for the New York Yankees has seen some of the good vibes surrounding his hot start to 2013 dissipate as he is having a start pushed back due to back spasms, according to reports.
Pettitte said he experienced discomfort in his lower back as he got up from his couch Thursday night, saying it "locked up on him." He immediately told the team who in turn removed him from his Sunday start.
Pettitte noticed some back issues in Cleveland on April 9th , but pitched through them for seven innings. "Obviously, it's not quite as good as I thought it was, even though I got good and loose for my bullpen in Cleveland and I felt great. If it was perfect, something wouldn't have happened last night to me," Pettitte said. "Hopefully, I can rest it here a few days. We believe it's a muscle spasm, so hopefully it calms down and I don't have any more problems with it."
The Yankees were hit with back-to-back rain postponements in Cleveland, which has given manager Joe Girardi some flexibility in reconfiguring the rotation to let Pettitte heal up. "I would love to just go out there and try to pitch, and I'll get through it like I got through it in Cleveland. They're not going to allow me to do it with an opportunity to push me back several days."
Injuries are to be expected in athletes in their 40s and Girardi acknowledged that in speaking with reporters. "You have to anticipate that a little bit," Girardi said. "I think it is pretty tough to get 32 starts out of a young guy, in a sense, a guy who hasn't logged as many innings as he has. Our hope is that you get somewhere between 28 and 30 starts."
In his first two starts this season, Pettitte is 2-0 with a sparkling 1.20 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. Hiroki Kuroda will take his place on Sunday.
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