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Andy Pettitte said he is pretty sure the tightness in his left trapezius that caused him to leave Thursday's game with two out in the fifth inning was nothing more serious than a muscle spasm.

But Pettitte said he is not at all sure that he will be able to make his next start, scheduled for Tuesday against the Orioles in Baltimore.

"Obviously, I’m realistic," he said after taking the loss in the New York Yankees' 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Mariners. "I know how these guys are. I asked them if I could stay out there and try to get through it out there. So I’m hoping it's a spasm and it settles down. I can’t tell you I’ve had this before. I haven’t, so I don’t know, but I don’t feel like it’s tight right now. I feel like it’s loosened up and relaxed, so that's a good sign."

Pettitte left the game after striking out Kyle Seager for the second out of the fifth inning and the Mariners leading, 2-1. According to Joe Girardi, he noticed that Pettitte's velocity had dropped and that his arm speed was noticeably slower in the inning. Pettitte's cutter had clocked as high as 92 mph in the second inning but was down to around 87 mph in the fifth.

"He wanted to stay," Girardi said. "He said, 'I just got two outs (Pettitte fanned Jason Bay with a 77 mph slider to start the inning), let me try to get one more.' I said, 'No, because if you really hurt yourself you might be out for a long, long time as opposed to maybe missing a start.' It might not be anything."

Pettitte said he originally felt the pain in the fourth inning -- "It just completely locked up on me" -- and between innings went down to the clubhouse for a massage and heat treatment from trainer Steve Donohue, which provided temporary relief.

"But on my first pitch to Bay it just completely locked up again," Pettitte said. "It was just really tight. I couldn’t get extended at all. I really just felt like I was kinda cutting everything off, and just really trying to throw it in there, almost slower than slow to tell you the truth."

Pettitte said there were no tests scheduled and a lot would depend on how he felt Friday morning, and when it comes time for him to throw his between-starts bullpen session on Saturday. But he acknowledged that he was beginning to feel his age (he will turn 41 on June 15), and after missing nearly three months of last season after suffering a broken leg after being hit by a line drive, he has already missed a turn once this season with lower back pain.

"There's no doubt I'm getting old, but I don't want to sit here and tell you that that's the exact reason why," Pettitte said. "I guess anybody can jump to conclusions and say that, but then I look around the league and I see all kinds of people on the DL with all kinds of problems that are a lot younger than me, too. It's baseball and it's tough on the body, and it's an unnatural movement to throw that thing."

After pitching well in his last start, a win over the Royals in Kansas City, Pettitte was dissatisfied with his stuff even before he began experiencing the upper back pain. He allowed a run in the second inning on a walk, a single and an RBI double to Dustin Ackley, and barely escaped major damage in the fourth when he loaded the bases on a single and two walks, allowing one run on an infield hit by Brendan Ryan. Although he struck out five, Pettitte walked three batters in the first four innings, an inordinately high number for him.

"It’s been a battle, no doubt, it’s been a battle the past four starts," he said. "My command hasn’t been what I expected it to be, or what it’s been. I don’t know if something is causing that. But it is frustrating when you go out there and I’m not able to command the strike zone quite like I usually do."

With Ivan Nova still on the disabled list, now with an oblique injury, and Vidal Nuno ineligible to be recalled until next Thursday, the Yankees' only option if Pettitte can't go appears to be Adam Warren.

QUESTION: With the Yankees nine games over .500 and still atop the AL East by a game, do you think it is wise to skip Pettitte's next start, even if he says he feels good to go?

New York Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte left Thursday's game against Seattle in the fifth inning with a tight left trapezius muscle.

After Pettitte struck out Seattle's Kyle Seager on a 77 mph slider for the second out in the fifth, Yankees manager Joe Girardi, pitching coach Larry Rothschild and trainer Mark Littlefield all visited him on the mound. After a brief meeting, Pettitte left the game after throwing just 79 pitches with the Yankees down 2-1.

To read more, click here.

Eduardo Nunez is not in the Yankees' lineup on Saturday, and may miss the rest of the series with the Orioles.

"He is not available for me probably today," manager Joe Girardi said. "I could pinch-run him maybe, in a pinch. We’re probably looking at more like Tuesday. We’ll see."

Nunez took a pitch off his right wrist in Friday night's win, and had to leave the game. X-rays were negative, and the Yankees termed the injury a contusion. Jayson Nix is playing shorstop on Saturday in Nunez's place.

The Yankees wrap up this three-game series with the Orioles on Sunday, and are off Monday.

PETTITTE: The date for Andy Pettitte's next start is still up in the air. He was supposed to pitch Sunday, but has been pushed back at least a couple days because of back spasms.

"We’ll continue to progress, and decide which day is best for him to start," Girardi said.

Pettitte could start Tuesday or Wednesday against the Diamondbacks, or he could be pushed back further, but Girardi did not sound particularly concerned. "I’m gonna look at him today and see how he is today, and if we have to change it, we’ll change it."

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers 10-6 today in Lakeland, but there were some positives that came out of it:

PETTITTE'S EXPECTATIONS: Andy Pettitte got victimized by high winds and high cutters at Joker Marchant Stadium, allowing four runs in his 6 1/3 innings, including a home run by Jhonny Peralta, but Cody Eppley, who faced five batters, allowed five hits, including a huge home run Miguel Cabrera, and got charged with five runs, took the loss. Afterward, Pettitte was pleased with his performance -- "Everything was good, right where I wanted it. I made some bad pitches I left up in the zone, but for the most part I was pretty happy with it.”

But he's even more pleased with the Yankees' chances to repeat as AL East champions.

“We’re the division champs," he said. "I expect us to win the division. We came four games away from going to the World Series last year; that’s a pretty good year. We have a lot of pieces coming back and hopefully we can do what we want to do and that’s getting to the World Series.”

BIG BEN'S DAY: Ben Francisco, in the final days of trying to win a job in the Yankees outfield, made the most of it, hitting a pair of home runs, a solo shot in the fourth off starter Anibal Sanchez and a two-run HR off Bruce Rondon in the eighth. The Yankees also got offensive contributions from Kevin Youkilis (2-for-4, 2-RBI double), Eduardo Nunez (2-for-4, RBI) and Juan Rivera (3-for-4).

BRETT'S BOILER: Not so good. Brett Gardner left the game after five innings with an upset stomach caused, Joe Girardi said, by something he ate on Friday. Gardner should be fine by tomorrow.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Last day of workouts before the games begin and Joe Girardi seems happy about that. As he said today, "I've seen enough bullpens." Tomorrow, he gets to see the real thing. Here's the highlights of his post-workout session:

MO LOOKS "NORMAL": And that's good enough for Joe, who stood behind Mariano Rivera during his 20-pitch live BP session and came away impressed. He also got a kick out of Mo saying to Rob Segedin, the first hitter he faced, "You better swing because all you're going to see are strikes," after the kid let the first two pitches go by. And he cracked up when told that after Segedin lined the next pitch into center, Andy Pettitte cracked from the bench, "That'll shut him up." Joe thought Pettitte, who preceded Mo on the mound, looked good, too.

DON'T COUNT OUT JORGE: He was at least half-kidding, but Girardi refused to rule out the possibility that Jorge Posada, in camp for a few days as a guest instructor, could be seduced by the spring training atmosphere and decide to end his retirement. "I know there was a lefthanded pitcher that said he wasn’t coming back, either," Girardi said, referring to Pettitte. "He came to camp, sat in on a few meetings and all of a sudden he was back a couple weeks later. Any time we have a guy that is doing what Jorge is doing, people are going to speculate. And I think it’s fair to do that."

HUGHES IMPROVES: Phil Hughes said his back felt "significantly better" after three days of anti-inflammatories for a bulging disk, but Joe tempered his enthusiasm somewhat. "It’s still too early. I think you have to see him get on the mound to feel that you’re through it and that it’s not going to be an issue that pops up all the time. But that’s a good sign," he said.

COOL ON AARDSMA: Joe was curiously restrained in his praise of David Aardsma, who is trying to work his way back from Tommy John surgery. when asked how Aardsma looked in his live BP, which preceded Pettitte's, Girardi said "Pretty good," with emphasis on the word "pretty. And when he was asked if Aardsma, a former closer with the Seattle Mariners, was reasonably assured of a bullpen spot, the manager said, "I think we have some pretty good competition here for some spots. I like to say all our guys have to earn their spots. That’s the way I look at it. He’s a guy that has closer experience and a lot of experience. You would expect that to pay off." We'll see.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Hard to believe but today is the final day of workouts before the Yankees start playing preseason games, beginning with tomorrow afternoon's game against the Braves in Kissimmee. Here's what happened this morning.

1. MO THROWS: Mariano Rivera took another step in his road back from knee surgery when he threw to hitters Kyle Roller and Rob Segedin in a 20-pitch live batting practice session. Mo was in a great mood, even calling his own strikes from the mound, and afterward declared the session "very good." More details coming later.

2. PETTITTE, TOO: Andy Pettitte preceded Mo and threw to Corban Joseph and Addison Maruszak. Looked good but no one spoke with him because Mo was up next. We'll check in with him later.

3. WHO IS THAT MASKED MAN: Why, it's Jorge Posada, of course, who made his first appearance in camp as a guest instructor. He stood behind the screen with Joe Girardi and Larry Rothschild during the live BPs and hasn't spoken to reporters yet.

4. WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY: As reported here yesterday, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Eduardo Nunez are making the trip to Kissimmee tomorrow, as well as Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine, Dan Johnson and Matt Diaz. David Phelps will start and probably go two innings. Don't know who will follow him yet. Girardi will fill us in later.

Team USA World Baseball Classic manager Joe Torre may be able to call on a familiar face during the tournament next month. Andy Pettitte will be on Torre's American team, according to CBS Sports.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman could not confirm if, in fact, Pettitte will be on the team.

"I don't even know if Andy is," Cashman said. "I haven't gotten the official list yet. I don't have the confirmation of any rosters yet. Whoever wants to play is allowed to play, obviously."

Mark Teixeira is also expected to be on the team, CBS said. Robinson Cano has indicated he will play for the Dominican team. Cano became an American citizen this offseason so technically he is eligible for the U.S. team, too. Cashman said the Yankees cannot keep players from participating in the tournament.

"No team has any say over that stuff unless the player is injured," Cashman said. "The WBC selection committee knows in advance what their eligible pool is."

THE NEWS: Colleague Jayson Stark reports Mariano Rivera's deal will be be done in the next 24 hours. That is good news for Mo as he celebrates his 43rd birthday today.

RAMIFICATIONS: Well, as Brian Cashman rappels off a building on Friday morning, he will know he is set up as well as he could have hoped for the Winter Meetings.

Cashman checks off Rivera's name after already taking care of Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte.

NEXT:If I were Russell Martin's agent, I would be patient right now. I would let Mike Napoli come off the board and then I would be the No. 1 catching option. Martin is a better defender than Napoli, but Napoli, who also plays first, is a better hitter and hence is expected to receive a larger contract.

The Pirates, Rangers, Mariners and Red Sox are the known teams that have shown interest in prying Martin away from the Yankees. If Napoli leaves Texas, Martin would figure to have more leverage with the Yankees, Pirates and Rangers. So if I were Martin, I would let this drag out until Napoli signs and then I would get my best, final offers from each team and make a decision. Martin is in a great position; especially for a guy who hit .211 last year.

Cashman has compared Martin to Thurman Munson, so you know he wants to keep him.

RIGHT FIELD: This seems like Ichiro Suzuki's spot to lose, but maybe Cashman has something else up his sleeve. The injury-prone Grady Sizemore could be worth a flyer. He would fit the Yankees' M.O. of going after guys who have had big numbers, but have regressed.

QUESTION OF THE AFTERNOON: Who's had a better Yankee career, Mo or the Captain?

WHAT IT MEANS: ESPN colleague Buster Olney reports that Andy Pettitte is close to formally announcing he is coming back and a new deal is nearly completed.

Barring any trades, the Yankees now know what their rotation will look like in 2013. Pettitte will fit in nicely right in the middle of CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda on the front end and Phil Hughes and whomever wins the fifth spot on the back end. Ivan Nova and David Phelps are expected to battle in the spring for that spot.

RAMIFICATIONS: What was expected is nearly official. Pettitte will return on a one-year deal. Just like with Kuroda, this is tremendous news for the Yankees on the field in 2013 and for Hal Steinbrenner's 2014 budget meetings. With dual goals of still trying to win a championship in '13 and fall under the $189 million mandate, having Kuroda and Pettitte willing to take one-year deals is huge. Despite their age, they both can still pitch. Pettitte missed a lot of the season with a fractured fibula, but went 5-4 with a 2.87 ERA. At 40, he knows what he is doing on the mound.

HUGHES RELIEF: This sets up an interesting decision. Hughes is now clearly the team's fourth starter in his walk year. If he has a tremendous season, he will earn himself big bucks in free agency. The Yankees would love for him to do well. But if he does, they could have trouble keeping him and falling below $189 million. They could play the wait-and-see game, though, and it wouldn't be surprising if they investigate what he might fetch in a trade. Most likely, he stays and the Yankees play it out.

YOUNG GUNS: In 2011, Nova was the rookie sensation. In 2012, it was Phelps. Now, they will settle who is the fifth starter in the spring, again barring any trades.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: With Pettitte on the brink of returning, what do you think of the Yankees' offseason?

Yankees president Randy Levine appeared on "The Michael Kay Show" on Friday to talk A-Rod, Andy Pettitte and the Yankees' dismal performance in the ALCS.

Kay asked Levine if A-Rod would be the Yankees' starting third baseman on Opening Day next spring.

"I do," he said.

Rumors have been swirling about Rodriguez's departure from the Bronx after he was benched in the ALCS.

Levine said he didn't anticipate there being any problems between Rodriguez and manager Joe Girardi after what transpired in the ALCS.

"I think that it's not a toxic situation whatsoever," Levine said. "I think that Alex is a great player and a great team guy and has a lot of pride. But I think deep in his heart he knew that Joe made the right decision. I think Joe handled it the right way. He talked to him, he spoke to him. He just wasn't hitting right-handed pitching. The relationship is fine. I think Alex wants to be here. Right now I don't anticipate anything different. I think he's going to be a Yankee. When you look at his year, he was an above average third baseman and he's going to continue to be an above-average third baseman."

Here are some other highlights from the interview:

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Our pitching was really really good. I think that our hitting just went away. I think that it was incredible to be -- I've been searching for answers why all of these professional hitters just didn't hit. For the most part, except for a few guys, it was most of our team. I've heard a lot of people, a lot of explanations. Nobody really has an answer to how a bunch of great professional hitters -- older hitters, younger hitters, in the middle hitters, a erase hitters, home run hitters -- all went cold at one time. And the only explanation is, that's baseball.

ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF BASEBALL THAT HAD TO DO WITH THE BENCHING OF A-ROD?

No. I can assure you there was nothing.

IS JOE GIRARDI'S JOB SAFE?

I think Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman, they did a great job. They got us in the American League Championship series and they did everything we could to get there. They did a great job, as I said. To me, this whole series came down to great hitters, for one week, not hitting.

WILL ANDY PETTITTE RETURN?

My gut tells me that he's such a great competitor that he's going to want to come back. He basically said he's going to think about it but my gut is he's going to want to come back .

CASH SAYS A-ROD WASN'T A SCAPEGOAT: Brian Cashman said Rodriguez shouldn't be viewed as a scapegoat during an interview with Chris Russo on Mad Dog Radio.

“Not at all," he said.

"Alex Rodriguez did not hit right-handers very well all season. He has just over a .600 OPS against right-handed pitching the entire year and that got worse as we went into September and even worse in October. So we had a legitimate alternative. You could argue Chavez had just as good a season, maybe even better than Alex because Alex missed as much time as he did with the injury, the fractured wrist. So we had an alternative from the left side, sitting there at third base, that was very productive against right-handed pitching. So in Alex’s particular case we had a legitimate alternative.

"The other guys got a little more rope and then we went to the legitimate alternative with Brett Gardner eventually where Swisher sat and Granderson sat, too. In Robby Cano’s case there wasn’t any real legitimate alternative to consider, not that we would consider that because he’s such a great hitter, but at the end of the day if you look at the large sample size of the entire year and you take the big name out of it and, really, who deserves to play in these matchups, the numbers bear it out. Alex should play against lefties and Chavez against righties based on the year he had.”

Here are the Yankee players who will either be free agents, or have club options on their serivices for next year:

FREE AGENTS

Nick Swisher
Russell Martin
Hiroki Kuroda
Andy Pettitte
Mariano Rivera
Ichiro Suzuki
Raul Ibanez
Derek Lowe
Eric Chavez
Andruw Jones
Freddy Garcia

CLUB OPTIONS

Robinson Cano ($14 million or $2 million buyout)
Curtis Granderson ($13 million, $2 million buyout)

PLAYER OPTION

Rafael Soriano (owed $14 million for 2013, or can take $1.5 million buyout and become a free agent).

How many of these guys would you bring back?

For the second straight outing, Andy Pettitte gave the Yankees a great performance.

His offense just didn't back him.

Pettitte tossed 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball Saturday but left the game with the Yankees down 2-0 as they left the bases loaded three times.

The veteran held Detroit scoreless for the first five but a triple by Austin Jackson ignited Detroit in the sixth. After the call was made to intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera with one out, Prince Fielder and Delmon Young responded with back-to-back singles to give Detroit the lead. He left the game in the seventh with two outs after walking Omar Infante.

Unless the Yankees rally, Pettitte will be 0-2 in the postseason despite not yielding more than three runs in either start. He gave up seven hits and struck out five.

Andy Pettitte Stats To Watch
There are two Tigers with a history of success against Pettitte and their names are neither Prince Fielder nor Miguel Cabrera.

Delmon Young is 13-for-24 against Pettitte, including 2-for-5 in postseason play. His .542 batting average is the highest of any of the more than 200 players with at least 20 career at-bats against Pettitte.

Young has a rep for being an aggressive hitter, so look for Pettitte to try to take advantage of that.

Young had the highest swing rate of any hitter in baseball (59 percent) this season and those numbers were basically identical versus lefties and righties.

Jhonny Peralta is 7-for-18 (including 1-for-2 in postseason) with three home runs against Pettitte.

One note on Peralta that might play into Pettitte's favor. Peralta has seen 127 sliders/cutters from lefties this season. On them he has managed just one hit and two walks, with 18 outs and a 35-percent miss rate on his swings.

Pettitte's History
This will be the seventh time in Pettitte's career that he’ll pitch a postseason series opener, the first time he'll do so for the Yankees since the 2001 ALCS, when he held the Mariners to one run and three hits in eight innings in a win.

He'll be the fifth pitcher age 40 or older to start Game 1 of a postseason series, joining Dennis Martinez, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, and David Wells. He'll be the second-oldest Yankee, about a month shy of Wells.

A win would make Petitte the oldest Yankee to start and win a Game 1, passing Clemens, who won to open the 2002 ALDS against the Angels.

Pettitte doesn't have much of a recent history against the Tigers. This start will mark the first time he has faced them since 2008.

Doug Fister Stats To Watch
Fister pitched really well at the end of the season, adding about an extra mile-per-hour to his fastball. That led to one game in which he set an AL record with nine straight strikeouts. In his last eight starts, including Game 2 of the ALDS, he’s 3-2 with a 2.82 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.

Fister is an interesting one to watch with a two-strike count, because he has four options he's comfortable throwing. The most effective one during this eight-start run have been that 90 mph fastball (47 outs, eight baserunners allowed).

The Yankees lefties will be challenged by Fister's two-strike approach. He likes to throw eye-high fastballs and big breaking curveballs that drop below the knees. The Athletics lefties couldn't touch him: They went 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts and a walk in Game 2 against those two-strike pitches.

How do you get Miguel Cabrera out?
Cabrera was held down reasonably well by the Athletics, who limited him to give hits in 20 at-bats, primarily by mixing up pitches that were on the outside corner around the knees, along with those that jammed him inside.

Lefties who have been able to jam Cabrera have given him a little trouble this season. He has seen 306 pitches on the inner-third of the plate or closer to him this season, hit only one home runs and his outs-to-hits rate is about 3-to-1.

For more on how pitchers have had success with Cabrera, check out our article from prior to the ALDS here.

It'll be Andy Pettitte in Game 1 of the ALCS.

And if the numbers are any indication, it could be an interesting night for Pettitte and the Yanks.

The veteran lefty's career regular season numbers against the Tigers are hit-and-miss. Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera is 4-for-12 with two homers and a double against Pettitte. Delmon Young is 11-for-19 with three doubles and four RBIs against the lefty. Jhonny Peralta is 6-for-16 with three homers and nine RBIs over his career against Pettitte.

The 40-year-old Pettitte was sitting in the bullpen in Game 5 of the ALDS and hadn't had much time to consider the Tigers' lineup when speaking to reporters after the game.

Here's what he had to say:

"Obviously you have Cabrera in there and (Prince) Fielder, great hitters. (You) just hope you can go out there and make quality pitches. Nothing different, you know, just try to make quality pitches," he said.

Pettitte, who missed nearly three months in the regular season with a broken bone in his foot, gave up three runs on seven hits in seven innings in Game 2 against Baltimore, a 3-2 Yankees loss.

He has the most playoff wins of all time, though, so his career numbers against Detroit should be taken with a grain of salt.

Still, Pettitte knows to be careful with Cabrera & Co.

"He will be a big key," Pettitte said of Cabrera. "To try to shut him down, I don't know if you can shut him down. But to try to keep him from doing too much damage in the series, that's the key to us wining the series, that's for sure."

Girardi did not announce a Game 2 starter. Hiroki Kuroda, who started Game 3 on Wednesday, is a candidate to throw on short rest. David Phelps, who tossed 1 1/3 innings in Game 4, is another option. A third possibility is Derek Lowe, who is not stretched out and tossed a third of an inning on Thursday.

The Yankees aren't tied in this series because of a lack of quality pitching.

Starters CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte were tremendous in the first two games of the ALDS in Baltimore, but the Yankees nearly wasted both of their excellent outings by struggling offensively. While the Yankees woke up in the ninth inning Sunday to capitalize on Sabathia's performance, the bats went silent for Pettitte on Monday and the Yankees are now tied in the series 1-1 instead of up 2-0.

"You don't want to miss those opportunities," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said on a conference call Tuesday. "We had a chance to win that game. We didn't get it done. So now it comes to the best two out of three, and we need to get it done. "

Sabathia tossed 8 2/3 innings of two-run ball in Game 1 to earn the win. Pettitte was tagged with the loss for seven innings of three-run ball. While the starters have kept Baltimore's lineup in check, the Yankees' offense has also been held down and hasn't given the pitchers much to work with.

Excluding the five-run outburst in the ninth inning Sunday, the Yankees have totaled four runs in the other 17 innings of the series. Unless the Yankees start hitting and capitalizing on their good pitching, they could potentially find themselves squandering great outings like they did on Monday.

HOLD ON LATE: Including the postseason, the Orioles are now 10-10 vs. the Yankees this year as they've emerged from the cellar of the AL East. Girardi credits the Orioles with an improvement in their pitching and ability to close out games late, as evident in Monday's 3-2 win, as reasons for their improvements this season.

"I think they're a talented group, number one. It's a pitching staff that knows how to pitch behind in the count, pitch ahead in the count. They've had a very good bullpen throughout the course of the year," Girardi said.

"They're a team that hits the ball out of the ballpark. It's how their score a lot of their runs. They've been very good in tight ballgames, so they're used to playing them. But it's a talented group. And to me the biggest difference is the improvement in their pitching staff from last year to this year, where they've always had some talented position players, but they've lost some games late at times and some tough games, and those games they're winning this year.
MARTIN CLUTCH: Russell Martin had the biggest hit for the Yankees thus far this postseason, hitting the go-ahead homer in Game 1, and his manager described his as a "clutch player." Martin is hitting .167 in the series, but has an on-base percentage of .375.

"I think he's always been a clutch player, and I think he's always relished the moment, and he's very talented and very skilled, and it has shown up, especially in the last month of the season in some of the walk off homers that he's had for us," Girardi said.