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Yankees legend and icon Andy Pettitte is back in the Bronx. After the 2010 season, he swiftly retired seemingly with a lot left to offer the game of baseball. However, he has returned to give the Yankees and the fans everything that he has left in his soon-to-be 40-year-old tank. Pettitte is one of the few players that fans wished they could have seen just one more time in pinstripes, and now he's giving them almost an entire season.

“There's going to be a real warmth in the stands today about him coming back,” Joe Girardi said about the atmosphere that will be in the Stadium in the series finale against the Mariners.

For the fans of the Yankees, this is a very special treat. Pettitte is a once-in-a-generation type pitcher for an organization.

To these people, he is the southern son of a city that appreciates his “awe shucks” calmness. That impassivity is not always welcomed by New Yorkers, however in his case, he is loved for it. How he has handled his business on the field, his killer instinct and his passion have created this love affair between player and city. The five-time World Champion has embraced the pressure that comes along with pitching on the world's biggest stage and has succeeded almost every time he's been called upon to do so. His 19 victories in postseason play are an all-time record and it's also no coincidence that he holds the record for most postseason series clinching victories.

He's the ultimate model of consistency. The way he plays the game is the epitome of what Joe DiMaggio said about himself in 1951: “There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.”

Pettitte always gives everything he has to his performances and even during his worst outcomes, you always know that Pettitte pitched as if it might be the last game he was ever going to appear in.

When he was a rookie back in 1995, Pettitte's calm demeanor and larger than life presence almost made him like a veteran. Now, 240 Major League wins later, with 203 of those wins coming with the Yankees, comes back to lend a helping hand on the mound and in the clubhouse. He returns to guide the young pitchers and give the Yankees a much needed boost to a rotation that needs it.

“I think he can do a lot on the field and off the field in the clubhouse,” Joe Girardi said before Pettitte's first start. “He's a leader; he leads by example; he can talk to the younger pitchers about things that he went through, because you look at our rotation and you've got Nova and Hughes, a couple of young pitchers that there's expectations. Andy's been through that, and I think he can help.”

He may or may not pitch well in his first start. Pettitte could lose this game being that his last start was Game 3 of the 2010 ALCS, but whatever the outcome is, win or lose, the Yankees and the fans have already won, because Andy Pettitte is home where he belongs.

Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner was on the right road to recovery and was expected to come back to the Yankees as early as today. In two starts with the Triple-A Yankees, Gardner was 3-for-5 with a triple and a run scored. However, after he came out of the game on Wednesday night, he had a setback in his recovery process.

“After the game last night he came out and he was sore, so as we speak, I believe he's having another MRI," Girardi said. “I can't tell you when he's going to be available to us, but I can tell you it won't be today.”

Girardi delineated a little more on the circumstance saying, “When he came out of the game he had a little swelling in there. I talked to (Yankees trainer) Stevie (Donahue) about it, and they brought him back and decided to have more tests today. It's in the muscular part; it's not where the bone bruise was.”

When asked by YES Network's Meredith Marakovits if this was a new injury, Girardi said, “It could be new. He had the bone bruise plus the muscular part before, but the muscular part had healed. He's feeling it in that area and he had some swelling. He played the whole game yesterday without a problem. It was after.”

Gardner, before the injury, was 9-for-28 this season, with a .321 average and had two stolen bases. He has played a key role with the Yankees since his call-up to the Majors in 2008. His style of game, being an on-base machine at the back of the lineup and a stolen base threat every time he gets on base, just gives the Yankees another weapon on how they can defeat teams. It hasn't just been on the offensive side of the ball that he has impressed. As a left fielder, he is superb. Between Granderson in center and Gardner in left, they cover a lot of ground in the outfield.

“We miss him. There's no doubt about it,” Girardi said of Gardner. “The way he was swinging the bat, his defense, the way he puts pressure on defense. We miss his presence in left field, but we've got to find a way to get it done without him, and as I said, I don't know when we're going to get him back -- I don't. I'm sure today will be much more revealing after he goes through the test and he probably is examined by the doctor and maybe see how it responds, how it feels tomorrow, but for right now we don't have him.”

For the short term, at least until more information comes out on the nature of why Gardner had swelling in his arm, the Yankees will have to continue to make due without their reliable outfielder.

The latest on Nick Swisher

Nick Swisher spoke to the media before the game on Monday and discussed his hamstring injury that got him pulled from the game on Sunday. He described it as a minor injury, and he felt a pinch in his first at-bat of the game.

“I took that first swing and kind of felt something bite a little bit,” Swisher said. “Just tried to stretch it out and work through it. It didn't go away. The second at-bat came around and the same thing. I got to first base and just kind of jumped back on a pickoff. I went down to grab my leg and Stevie (Yankees Head Trainer Steve Donahue) and Skip (Joe Girardi) said, 'That's it. We're going to get you out of here.' "

Swisher is having one of the hottest starts of his career hitting .284, with six home runs, 15 extra-base hits and 23 RBIs in just 21 games. Right now, the Yankees want to let it heal, give it a couple of days and there are no plans to put him on the disabled list.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “Game plan (the) next three days (is to) just kind of chill and me and Stevie get to know each other a little bit better. Then get back after it hopefully the first game in Kansas City.”

The Yankees are going to have Swisher rest for a couple of days before he even swings a bat. He will be receiving treatment on his hamstring, and then once the Kansas City series begins, he may or may not take batting practice depending on how he reacts to the treatment.

In 2007, Swisher had a hamstring injury in the same leg, but he said that injury felt a lot more severe. Even with that, he was only out for a 10-day period.

It could very well be a week before Swisher comes back onto the the field, but he wants to make sure that this injury has healed fully before he does.

“Me and Skip, we've got to get together and get a game plan,” he said. "From what I feel right now, I wouldn't see it being a week.” Swisher would later say, “I just got to do what I've got to do to get back on the field.”

Andy Pettitte's outing in Tampa

Pettitte pitched 5.2 innings and allowed six runs -- five earned -- in an Extended Spring Training start in Clearwater, Fla. on Monday afternoon against the Phillies. Those may not sound like positive numbers for the veteran southpaw, but he got his pitch count up to 96 and struck out nine, while giving no one a free pass today.

He is on the right track and may get one more start before making his debut in a week or two with the Yankees' big club.

Pettitte was originally supposed to make this start today in Portland, Maine with the Trenton Thunder, however, the weather conditions were a deterrent and the reason he made his start today in Tampa.

A concern is that he did give up another 10 hits today, which is probably the reason the Yankees want to see one more start out of Pettitte throwing over 100 pitches. Stamina and control were issues he cited after the game in Trenton, which is quite understandable in being out of the game for a full season. However, he should be with the Yankees after his next scheduled start barring a major setback.

The Yankees are making moves, trying to sure up their rotation and bullpen. Unfortunately, through only 20 games this season, this is a move that needed to be made. At present, the Yankees only have five quality starts, a 6.37 ERA and are only averaging 5.1 innings per start. With numbers like that, the Yankees' spectacular bullpen is bound to be taxed.

Freddy Garcia, with his 12.51 ERA this season and two consecutive outings of less than two innings per start is on the move to the bullpen. Yankees manager Joe Girardi alluded to the fact that David Phelps is the best candidate to move into the rotation and will most likely make the next start when Garcia's spot comes up.

D.J. Mitchell was called up to the big club, while Cody Eppley was optioned down to Triple-A after pitching three innings in the bullpen on Saturday. Mitchell and Garcia will most likely take Phelps' role as the long man in the bullpen.

The Yankees will have to make a decision after Andy Pettitte makes his way back to the Major Leagues. There are several ways the Yankees can go. One is making a full decision on Garcia's future with the club. He is not built for the bullpen and the Yankees have a lot of pitching depth in their system.

We'll know more over the next couple of weeks, but for now the Yankees have made some decisions that should help the team right now.

The Yankees have announced via their @YankeesPR twitter handle, "RHP D.J. Mitchell was recalled from Scranton/WB earlier today. He'll be making his Major League debut."

No further details were given on the corresponding move that will be made or when Mitchell will be making his Major League debut.

The 24-year-old Mitchell impressed the Yankees in Spring Training, and in his four starts in Triple-A, he was 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA. He also struck out 21 in 23 innings pitched, while only walking seven batters.

More news to come.