Andy Pettitte Becomes The Strikeout King For The New York Yankees

How many times throughout his career has Andy Pettitte saved the Yanks in his long and illustrious career? Yeah countless is the answer. The lefthander did it again on Monday night and in the process set a new Yankee record for strikeouts.

Pettitte worked through 1st inning troubles to hang around long enough to help the Yankees get the victory and set a new Yankee record in the process. He needed 2 strikeouts to pass the " Chairmen of the board" Whitey Ford to become the all time strikeout king for the Yanks. He got 2 strikeouts and the record.

Leadoff hitter Clete Thomas went down swinging in the 2nd inning to tie Ford's record. Then in the 5th, Justin Morneau went down in the books as the guy who struck out swinging for the record. The record books will show that Morneau was the 1,958th strikeout for Pettite.  Ford held the record since 1967.

In achieving the record Pettitte  now stands 3rd in New York baseball history in strikeouts. Only the "franchise" Tom Seaver and Christy Matthewson stand ahead of Pettitte in NY baseball history. Seaver fanned 2,541 batters. Matthewson K'd 2,504.

Another piece of personal history for manager Joe Girardi who won his 600th game as a big league manager. 522 of those came as the skipper of the Bombers.

Robinson Cano was the hitting star for the Yanks, blasting 2 home runs and driving in 3. The Yanks trailed 3-1 after 1 but chipped away to tie the game in the 3rd. The Twins went back on top with a run in the 6th.

However the lead was short lived as the Yanks scored 3 in the 8th and tacked on 4 in the 9th to win going away.