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Andy Pettitte has 240 wins in the Major Leagues, has won another 19 post-season games and also owns five World Series rings. At this point in Pettitte’s glorious career, it would seem that nothing could cause him to react too emotionally. He’s been there and he’s done that. Right? Guess again.

After General Manager Brian Cashman announced that Pettitte would rejoin the Yankees and start on Sunday against the Mariners, Pettitte was elated. When I texted Pettitte and asked him about returning to the mound, Pettitte, who didn’t pitch in 2010, explained that he was thrilled.   

“Words can’t even describe how excited I am to get back,” Pettitte said. “Ready to get back to the grind of the big league season and going through that

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”…

There is a reason that Mariano Rivera has been my favorite Yankee for a very long time.  I know that Derek Jeter is a quality guy and a favorite of many, but for me, Mariano Rivera has always been the premier player in my opinion.  It doesn’t mean that I feel Jeter’s not a great player…he is.  He is most likely a first ballot Hall of Famer and will go down as the greatest shortstop in Yankees history (with no disrespect to Phil Rizzuto).  But Rivera has always handled himself with dignity and class, and he’s always been accountable when things have gone wrong.  He has never disrespected another player or team, nor has he placed blame anywhere but with himself.  He

The Yankees are making moves, trying to sure up their rotation and bullpen. Unfortunately, through only 20 games this season, this is a move that needed to be made. At present, the Yankees only have five quality starts, a 6.37 ERA and are only averaging 5.1 innings per start. With numbers like that, the Yankees' spectacular bullpen is bound to be taxed.

Freddy Garcia, with his 12.51 ERA this season and two consecutive outings of less than two innings per start is on the move to the bullpen. Yankees manager Joe Girardi alluded to the fact that David Phelps is the best candidate to move into the rotation and will most likely make the next start when Garcia's spot comes up.

D.J. Mitchell was called up to the big club, while Cody Eppley was optioned down to Triple-A after pitching three innings

Going up or going down?...

About 20 games into the season and the Yankees are barely closer to first place than they are last place.  Only two games separate the Yankees from the dismal start by the Boston Red Sox but of course the Sox are playing better as of late.  It’s only April so at this point, the standings don’t really mean too much as the superior AL East teams will begin to separate themselves from the pretenders over the course of the next couple of months. 

It was nice to see the Yankees pull off a walk-off win at Yankee Stadium last night against the team that seems to terrorize them in the play-offs in recent years, the Detroit Tigers.  I am really surprised that Justin Verlander holds an 0-2 mark with 4.50 ERA for his career at the new Yankee

The first thing that hit me when the hyped forecast of the Nor'easter started ticking up on weather reports was this could be a good thing for the Yankees--that is if Boston would call the game early enough on Sunday to allow the Yanks to get an earlier charter departure for Texas.

It's a shame that ESPN was about to hold the Yankees to an 8 pm ballgame, certainly not allowing them to get up in the air until well past the midnight hour. Thus, they'd roll into Texas in the week hours and have to play the two-time defending AL Champs in a three-game series after being somewhat spent from a physically and emotionally draining weekend in Beantown. 

Hearing the game was rained out and will be rescheduled was good news on several fronts.

First, the Yankees can leave Boston still feeling

Uneven start to the 2012 season...

I guess the season opening series sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays set the tone, but this has been a hot and cold season thus far.  The New York Yankees followed the Rays series with their own sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, but they've struggled against the Minnesota Twins in the Bronx.  Given how the Yankees have owned the Twins in recent years and the fact the Twins were a 99 loss team last year with no notable improvements, it seems odd that the Yankees are fighting to salvage the fourth game of the series with the Twins and at least earn a split.

Now you see him, now you don't...

I was excited last week when Hiroki Kuroda pitched a gem, but after getting pounded by the Twins yesterday , he's had more bad starts than good.  It's only three

By Zachary Finkelstein

Now on his 12^th lap around Major League Baseball’s regular-season track, CC Sabathia has succeeded in securing his fair share of sports-related spoils.  From World Series champ to Cy Young contender, and from perennial All-Star candidate to possible Hall of Famer, the Yankees' No. 1 starter has been called many things during his Major League tenure.

One title that has sometimes eluded him, however, is April ace.

Granted, Sabathia has pitched his best under the brightest lights, as evidenced by his .636 winning percentage during postseason ball. But the southpaw has been sensational during the regular season, too, having tallied 80 more wins than losses with a solid 3.53 ERA entering his Tuesday night start against the Twins. But for some reason, April

Carl Pavano was thoroughly booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd when they announced his name before the game. Although he received a thrashing once again when he walked out from the bullpen, those boos soon turned to cheers as the Yankees offense got to him early. Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson hit back-to-back home runs to start the game, and the Yankees walked out of the first inning with a 3-2 lead.

Then the darndest thing happened: Pavano settled down. He was making his first appearance at Yankee Stadium since April 19, 2009, when he was with the Indians, so early game jitters may have had something to do with his struggles. But once he settled in, he did not let the fact that more than 40,000 Yankee fans had a very long memory.

After the first inning, Pavano pitched six more, allowing

By Zachary Finkelstein

The Andy Pettitte comeback train, final destination 161st Street and River Ave., seamlessly passed yet another stop on Sunday in Tampa, Fla., where the left-hander propelled 47 pitches over four scoreless innings against the Class A Advanced Clearwater Threshers.

On Monday, the YES Network's Jack Curry reported that Pettitte is slated for a Friday rehab outing, one of four the left-hander will make before he returns to the big league mound in the Bronx. 

The Pettitte update on Monday coincided with news that Michael Pineda had tossed his first bullpen session since leaving his final spring start with shoulder tendinitis. The 23-year-old flamethrower should make his first Minor League rehab appearance in the near future.

Pettitte and Pineda would