Pettitte wins seventh, A-Rod hits grand slam in Yanks' rout of Indians

Andy Pettitte continues to lap it up from the "fountain of youth" that Angels manager Mike Scioscia said he was drinking from earlier this season.

Completely baffling the Indians Monday afternoon at the Stadium, Pettitte set down the final 14 batters he faced as the Yankees clobbered Cleveland, 11-2, in front of 44,976.

Pettitte (7-1, 2.48 ERA) allowed one run, four hits and no walks in seven innings. The final hit off him was a one-out single in the third by Mark Grudzielanek.

"Andy's unbelievable," said Alex Rodriguez, whose grand slam highlighted a six-run seventh inning that extended the Yankees' lead from 2-1 to 8-1. "He's got so much intensity and he executes his pitches. I really feel that he's pitching better than he ever has in his career."

The victory pulled Pettitte even for career victories with Whitey Ford at 236. Ford won all of his games with the Yankees; 199 of Pettitte's victories have come with the Yankees.

"It's awesome, it really is, because he's just been a special person for me in my career here," said Pettitte, who has not walked a batter in 15 innings in his last two games. "He's been a huge supporter of mine. He's just a great man. I love him to death. He's always been great to me since the time I've been here. For me that's just pretty special to be able to tie him in wins."

"Two great Yankees is what it is," Joe Girardi said. "Think about what Whitey meant to this organization, you think about what Andy has meant to this organization. It's an awful lot. Andy's in great company."

Pettitte, who has won seven of his first eight decisions for the first time in his career, said having season-ending elbow surgery in 2004 made him a better pitcher.

"I feel like I came up and I kind of pitched like I am right now and then I found a cutter and I got a little cutter-happy and just wanted to throw cutter, cutter, cutter, and I lost the feel of my changeup," Pettitte said. "It took for me to have the surgery to almost learn how to pitch again because I pitched so many years with just fastballs in, cutters in . . . You hate to say it, but as far as just learning how to pitch and just figuring it out again, the surgery was probably the best thing that ever could have happened to me."

Girardi said Pettitte is a much different pitcher from the one he caught in the mid-to-late '90s.

"Now he throws that cutter on both sides, he has two different fastballs," Girardi said. "He uses his changeup more. He's just a lot different than when I caught him. He's added pitches to his repertoire and it's really completed him as a pitcher."

Pettitte, who has been year-to-year the last several seasons, said his fast start doesn't have him thinking beyond this year and certainly not about extensions. He'll discuss it with his family, just as he did last offseason.

"Unless I have a serious injury or something, I don't think it's going to be me not feeling like I'm going to be able to pitch anymore that will be what makes me eventually retire," Pettitte said. "I feel like it will be I need to be with my family a little bit more."

Which would be fine with managers such as Scioscia, whose team was shut out by Pettitte for six innings April 13 - eliciting the quote above - and Indians manager Manny Acta.

"He basically toyed with our inexperienced guys in the lineup," Acta said. "He's been doing this for a lot of years and hasn't lost it."