Nick Swisher of the NY Yankees at the 31st Annual...

Nick Swisher of the NY Yankees at the 31st Annual Thurman Munson Award Dinner held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Manhattan. (Feb. 2, 2011) Credit: Errol Anderson

Like the rest of his teammates, Nick Swisher would love to see Andy Pettitte return in 2011.

But, Swisher said Tuesday night, if the 38-year-old pitcher retires - increasingly looking to be the case - he deserves all the plaudits that will be coming his way.

"I love Andy Pettitte more than anything, not only as a player but as a person," said Swisher, speaking at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan before the Thurman Munson Awards Dinner, which benefits the AHRC New York City Foundation. "I don't know what it's like to have kids . . . but I know he misses his family and, in my opinion, if he chooses to ride off into the sunset, he's definitely earned that. We would love to have him back, but if he's got to go, he's going with glory."

Without Pettitte, Swisher said the Yankees still should have the highest expectations.

"We've got an amazing lineup from top to bottom," Swisher said. "We just want to go out there and prove that we're as good as we think we are."

Swisher said he was most excited about the acquisition of Rafael Soriano.

"I think he just takes a whole inning off of a game," Swisher said. "Him and Mo [Mariano Rivera] in the pen, it turns it into a seven inning game. With the other great pitchers I think we have in the pen, you're shortening the game to five, six innings. For us, we have to feel good about that. We feel any situation we're put up against, we feel we're going to be successful. People say we don't have the pitching. I don't believe that."

Swisher was banged up the second half of 2010, most significantly suffering a bruised left knee after fouling a ball off of it in a late August. The injury affected Swisher into the playoffs. "I feel great, the body feels good," Swisher said.

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