These four have set themselves apart

By Thomas Boswell
Sunday, October 25, 2009

NEW YORK

The rain poured on the outfield grass but Andy Pettitte kept throwing, harder and harder, until he was almost at game velocity. Even though his start in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series had been postponed just an hour before, even though he will now pitch that game on Sunday night, he had work to do, ritual to render, a kind of resolute Yankee-ness to honor.

As the rain turned to a deluge, with no other players from either the Yanks or Angels anywhere in sight in this new blue pinstripe shrine, Pettitte ran alone, back and forth, from the right field foul line to center field, over and over.

On Sunday night, Pettitte may pitch the Yankees back to the World Series for the 40th time. Along with him on that trip will be three other classic veteran Yankees -- shortstop Derek Jeter, closer Mariano Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada, all of them teammates on four New York world champions from 1996 to 2000 . All of them, each having another superior postseason, are dedicated to a last roundup (with $423 million in new trail hands along for the ride).

Let Pettitte, throwing and running alone in a long empty stadium in a steady storm, stand for all four of them. Hatless, in a blue Yankees T-shirt and pinstripe pants, drenched long ago but oblivious the 37-year-old left-hander continues a 90-season Yankee tradition of lifelong commitment to the endless boring regimen of greatness. The Yankees as an organization are rich and never play on a level field. But the individual Yankees who comprise the best of those teams are indeed a magnificent breed apart -- in their own minds, to be sure, and, perhaps, to a degree, in reality, too.

"The four of them all exemplify what the best Yankees are supposed to be -- classy, tough, gentlemen, winners, team first," said "senior adviser" Reggie Jackson, standing in the locker room. "If things don't go well, you sit down and be quiet."

"Oh, just like you used to?" I said.

Reggie laughed. "Those four guys set the example for everybody else," Jackson said. "I can sum up what they have in two words -- relentless carriage. They have a posture that they never lose no matter what's happening. If there is no path, they cut their own and make a way for you. The circumstances of the [particular] game don't dictate to them. They define the game.

"To have a great team, you need two or three giants who have it."

Might the Phillies have a few sure men with relentless carriage.

"Yes," Jackson said. "Ryan Howard has the physical presence and the talent to match it."

But you can see he has trouble coming up with other names that fill him with enthusiasm. The Yankees, meanwhile, have their veteran foursome, plus three additional stars with equivalent gifts but not yet that Jeter-like perfect pinstripe posture -- Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira.

All this sounds just peachy for the Yankees. But it's not quite a perfect world for them yet. The Yanks didn't want to play a Game 6 and probably shouldn't have had to. Pettitte has plenty of problems beating the Angels with an 0-4 record and 34 runs allowed in 39 1/3 innings in seven starts against them the last two years. He's allowed at least three earned runs in all of them.

There wouldn't have been any Game 6, or the fear of a one-game-season Game 7 (even if CC does get to start it), if the Yankees' setup men -- Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain -- who were so substantial in the regular season hadn't suddenly looked scared to death on Thursday in Anaheim. With a two-run seventh-inning lead, they blew up the bridge to the virtually infallible Rivera whose ERA this postseason is (of course) 0.00 and in 83 playoff games now has an 0.71 ERA, 36 saves and an 8-1 record.

"The image of a Yankee is Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera," Jackson said. Pettitte and Posada are on a slightly lower level, yet not followers.

"They could both get into the Hall of Fame. They are on the cusp," Jackson said. "Andy has 15 postseason wins. That ties the record. What if he gets No. 16 [on Sunday]. Or 17 and 18 [in the World Series]?

"Jorge was the class of his era as a catcher, along with Iván Rodríguez. Ivan's probably a Hall of Famer. But if you had to start a team, you'd probably pick Jorge over Iván."

Game 6 may loom unusually large, even for a team as over-laoded with stars as the Yankees, because Pettitte carries such a central place in the locker room. Once, he was more a sidekick to Roger Clemens. Now, "Andy is the leader around here," Jackson said.

If the Angels gain momentum in Game 6, then even a Game 7 win by Sabathia would hurt the Yankees -- perhaps badly -- in the Series. If CC had to work on Monday, the Yankees could only use the 290-pound lefty twice, at most, in the Series.

In the Bronx, only one goal is allowed after last offseason's free agent spending spree -- it's either a title or failure. Everything about a CC start on Monday is a nightmare for New York. After A.J. Burnett (who definitely does not have relentless carriage) in the opener, who pitches Game 2? Chad Gaudin, with a 34-35 career record? Or Pettitte, who often likes five days' rest, on only three days' rest?

No, the Yankees hate the word "Monday." They're all about Sunday night, right now. Look for those four familiar names to cut a path for others to follow. Jeter and Posada are hitting .314 and .308 in this postseason with five home runs between them -- as many as the whole Angels team in the playoffs. Pettitte's ERA is 2.84 and Rivera has been perfect -- times seven.

On Sunday, the rain will stop. The new $1.5 billion Big Ballpark, this city's duplicate shrine to what it means to be a Yankee, will show itself in all its over-the-top blue majesty, right up to the restored white façade.

The great baseball tradition here will not be celebrated by monuments and pediments, or by 15-foot neon "Yankee" signs or video hagiography. Jeter, Rivera, Posada and Pettitte will carry it forward in its proper dignified manner. Like Ruth and Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle, Jackson and Munson, they embody the best Yankee tradition -- the relentless carriage of champions.