PETTITTE: THE YANKEE WOMAN'S FANTASY

Last night, I had a dream. It wasn’t just a good dream; it was a fantastic dream. The kind of dream that happens to you when you least expect it. The kind of dream that makes you almost sad to wake up and you want to go back to bed and see if it will play in your head again. It was amazing…like being in baseball Heaven.

The dream takes place at Yankee Stadium, and I’m sitting in my seat, waiting for the game to start. The announcer calls the starting lineups for the day, and the player’s pictures flash on the huge screen in between the bleacher seats. We go through the usual players, Tex at first, Robbie at second base, Jeter at shortstop, etc. And then, the announcer says, clear as day….”And pitching for the New York Yankees, #46, Andy Pettitte”, and his picture came up on the screen.

Wait, what? Andy retired, didn’t he? I think to myself...it must be a mistake. But this was no mistake, as Andy walked out to the mound and began throwing his practice pitches to Russell Martin.

Sitting, dumbfounded, I watched as Andy began his signature wind-up to start the game. Pitch after pitch, strike after strike, he was on fire. He was throwing heat like never before. He even successfully pitched out two runners during the game, flashing his famous left-handed leather missile before the runner knew what was happening to him. Of course, he pitched a complete game, logged in a “W”, and tipped his hat to the fans as he walked back to the dugout.
Alas, the alarm blaring in my ear reminded me of several things. Yes, Andy Pettitte is indeed retired, we didn’t even see him for Old Timer’s Day. No, my boss was not going to buy the “I was- dreaming -about -Andy –Pettitte-so-I’m-late-for-work –excuse,” again. And yes, in the early morning light, I was again painfully reminded that the Yankees rotation is well, let’s just say, less than stellar these days.

They say that we can learn a lot about our dreams. They’re supposedly some unconscious manifestations of our deepest desires. I’m not sure that this pertains to just women, as I would be hard pressed to find any male Yankees fan who wouldn’t truly love to have this particular dream become a reality. I think we can all agree, that in a perfect world, Yankees fans would feel like they were “Wide Awake in Dreamland” if Andy were on the mound again. He was solid, dependable, and reassuring. Like a port in the storm, when things seemed terrible, somehow just knowing that Pettitte was scheduled to pitch the next game was soothing to us. We felt safe. We felt good.

Unfortunately, it was only a dream. We all know that Andy is retired and that it’s highly unlikely that he’ll return to baseball wearing pinstripes and a glove. But, hey; one of the advantages of being a girl, is that we are not afraid to admit when we make wishes for our dreams to come to true. It’s how we were raised. “When you wish upon a star…”.




--Christy Lee, BYB Staff Writer



--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Associate Editor



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