Pettitte: Back Off Big Papi
Via Nick Cafardo:
Andy Pettitte admitted he did try to back Big Papi off the plate in his second at-bat today which seemed to irritate the Sox slugger.
Pettitte, who hadn’t pitched in 10 days because of elbow soreness, came in tight to Papi’s midsection, but didn’t hit him.
“He’s a great hitter,” said Pettitte. “No doubt I backed him off. You just can’t lay it in over the plate for him. Got to move the ball in and out. Got to hopefully make a hitter feel uncomfortable. He’s a great hitter and you have to hopefully pitch him inside.
“When you’ve got great hitters,” added Pettitte, “you’ve got to throw the ball inside to them. Not balls for strikes because they can handle those balls. You’ve got to show them different looks; move the ball up and down and change speeds on them if you want to get them out and keep them in the ballpark.”
During the YES broadcast of this game, Joe Girardi was asked about Pettitte moving Big Papi off the plate. Girardi said that he would talk to Pettitte about it – to see if it was an accident or not. But, Joe stressed that you have to move the other team’s big hitters off the plate so that they cannot sit there and be comfortable – and own the outside part of the plate.
I saw the pitch in question to Ortiz. It was a perfect purpose pitch. Up around the letters and clear enough to him that he needed to get out of the way. The only way Pettitte could have hit him with that pitch would be if Ortiz had his eyes closed. It was text-book in terms of what’s accepted in baseball.
And, hopefully, it’s a book that the Yankees will make Ortiz read all season.
Is it me, or did Ortiz seem to lose a lot of weight?
Anyway, as for backing Ortiz off the plate, I’ll believe it when I see it. I find it hard to believe that he’s been torching the league since 2003 because no one wants to move him off the plate.