Pettitte: Tough Times Have Hurt Yanks' Confidence

From Anthony McCarron:

Andy Pettitte was there at the dawn of the Yankees' dynasty and sometimes he can't help but look at this year's team through the prism of past championships. He marvels at the way the Yanks' World Series winners were a perfect storm of talent - especially veteran starting pitching - good health and good fortune.

This year's version, though, has been hurt by injuries, something the title teams never dealt with on this scale. The offense never disappeared for long stretches like it has this season. Tough times have chipped at the Yankees' confidence, too, Pettitte added.

Pettitte acknowledged that he and his teammates have watched in wonder as little things that perhaps didn't hurt the Yankees in the past have gone awry this year, a kind of karmic payback for all those titles. A reporter suggested that it used to be that the other team's closer who would throw a wild pitch in the ninth, not Mariano Rivera, which happened Friday night. Pettitte smiled.

"We see it," Pettitte said. "You don't want to dwell on it, because the mind's a dangerous thing. But you see what's going on."

Pettitte says the Yanks' recent struggles have cost them "some of our swagger. We've been beat up and beat down a little bit. But sometimes that's good. It makes you want it more, it makes you work harder. Adversity's good in life.

"Losing gives you a little taste of reality no matter how many times you've won. This is going to be the mental battle for every man in here, to be able to pull this off and get to the playoffs. The way things are going, it's an absolute grind right now and you can't have an ounce of give up in you. We're going to find out what this team is made of down the stretch here.

"Probably a lot of people don't think there's any way in the world we'll be able to pull it off. But I just can't even fathom thinking we're not going to make it until we're mathematically eliminated. I believe if somehow we can win three, four, five in a row, you get that confidence back, a little bit of that swagger back, and hopefully it'll carry us in."

Pettitte is right, adversity can be a good thing, but only if you're strong enough to fight through it. If you feel sorry for yourself and lose confidence then the adversity has obviously not been beneficial.

Right now the Yankees pretty much need to win three out of every four games, and they're not going to do it by feeling sorry for themselves. They have to take the field knowing they are going to win that night.

You can even tell by some of Pettitte's comments that even he doesn't fully believe this team can do it, he hopes they can, but that's about it.

At least Pettitte - and I'm sure many Yankees - know it's put up or shut up time. They have no more room for error, and like Pettitte said, it's going to be a battle for everyone in that locker room.