"It seemed a little strange when Andy Pettitte checked out of Wednesday's game against the Orioles with just one run, six hits, two walks, five innings and 77 pitches in the scorebook. It turned out that yet another of the aging Yankees was having a problem. While the Yankees were finishing off a three-game sweep with a 7-5 victory at Yankee Stadium, Pettitte was off at New York Presbyterian getting an MRI. Pettitte, who will celebrate his 38th birthday on June 15, departed with stiffness in the elbow neighborhood. "Any time you're talking about the area around the elbow, you start to worry a little bit," Pettitte said through a team spokesman before the results came back. But the MRI just showed mild inflammation. The Yankees said he will be treated conservatively and evaluated daily. It would figure that his next start would be in question, Tuesday in Detroit. It had already been pushed back a day in part because this wasn't Pettitte's first arm problem in the last week. Joe Girardi also revealed that Pettitte had developed stiffness while warming up for his previous start vs. the White Sox on Friday. But that was in the top of the forearm. A trainer rubbed that out, and Girardi said he didn't feel it during the start. There have been a series of minor issues with the older Yankees of late. Mariano Rivera didn't pitch for the fifth straight game after developing tightness in his left side in the wake of last Friday's outing. The 39-year-old closer felt good to go again, but Girardi wanted to rest him with an off-day coming today. Girardi also stayed away from Joba Chamberlain because he had played the part of Rivera in saving the previous two games. That turned the ninth inning of this game into an edge-of-the-seat adventure. Girardi figures to have Rivera available for the start of the three-game series in Boston Friday night. As far as Jorge Posada's availability, Girardi wasn't sure yet. Posada strained his right calf on Monday, so the 38-year-old catcher missed his second straight game. The 34-year-old Alex Rodriguez missed Sunday's game with stiffness behind his right knee and some fatigue." http://www.lohud.com/article/201005...ORTS0101/Pettitte-MRI-shows-mild-inflammation
