Pettitte Makes The Final Start of His Career In Houston

Just like AMC's "Breaking Bad", this season is almost over. After last night's 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros in which Joba Chamberlain likely threw his last pitch as a member of the New York Yankees, nearly blowing the 3-0 lead in the 7th inning, the Yanks were able to hold on for their first win in almost a week, snapping a four-game losing skid.

With just two games remaining this season, the Yankees have nothing left to play for, and the next meaningful game they'll play won't come until April 1st, 2014 when they open up the season in Houston against the Astros -- yeah, just stay put in Houston.

What everyone is watching for this weekend is whether Mariano Rivera -- who pitched for the final time at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, when longtime teammates Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte came out to retrieve him from the game -- will actually get the chance to play in the outfield this weekend. Manager Joe Girardi said it's up to Mariano what he does this weekend, but Mo says he'll only play the field if his legs let him.

Tonight's Lineup vs Houston:

Granderson CF
Nunez 3B
Cano 2B
Soriano LF
Overbay 1B
Almonte RF
Suzuki DH
Ryan SS
Stewart C

Pettitte P

Pitching Preview:

For the 438th time in his career, Andy Pettitte will be taking the mound for the Yankees Saturday night -- it also tied him with Whitey Ford for the most starts in team-history. Pettitte announced his retirement on August 20th, and pitched his final game at Yankee Stadium two days later, tossing seven-plus innings of two-run ball.

"I think it'll be enjoyable, for sure," Pettitte said. "I think it's going to be emotional. I'm not real sure what to expect, to tell you the truth. There's no doubt when I get out of the game, it's going to be sad, because I know that's it."

Like Mariano Rivera, Pettitte will be able to close out his career on a high note, as he's been the Yankees best pitcher over the past few weeks, still showing that he has what it takes to get hitters out -- even as the oldest starting pitcher in the league -- going 3-2 with a 2.09 ERA in nine start for the Bombers since August 11th.

"Pettitte, if you give me a vote, he's a Hall of Famer," Porter said. "The career he's put together and the success in which he's had, not only in the regular season and postseason and championships, but he's a Houston guy, so I think it's great for the city and great for him. I'm glad that he gets to make his last scheduled start at home."

In the most fitting of situations, Pettitte and the Yankees will be going up against Clemens -- Paul Clemens, that is. Clemens has only made four starts for the Astros this year, going 0-2 with a 4.02 ERA. For the season, the right-hander is 4-6 with a 5.69 ERA.

"It's a tremendous honor to get to go against Andy Pettitte and face him," Clemens said. "It's a blessing, a privilege. I want to compete with them, give them a good, competitive ballgame, keep it real tight and make them compete until the last pitch is thrown for him and myself. Hopefully, that will be a good one for him to look back on and say he had a good little battle with a young guy."

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