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Andy Pettitte has 240 wins in the Major Leagues, has won another 19 post-season games and also owns five World Series rings. At this point in Pettitte’s glorious career, it would seem that nothing could cause him to react too emotionally. He’s been there and he’s done that. Right? Guess again.

After General Manager Brian Cashman announced that Pettitte would rejoin the Yankees and start on Sunday against the Mariners, Pettitte was elated. When I texted Pettitte and asked him about returning to the mound, Pettitte, who didn’t pitch in 2010, explained that he was thrilled.   

“Words can’t even describe how excited I am to get back,” Pettitte said. “Ready to get back to the grind of the big league season and going through that

TAMPA – Andy Pettitte has ended his retirement to sign a 1-year, minor league contract with the Yankees that will pay him $2.5 million. Less than three weeks after Pettitte visited spring training as a guest instructor here, the 39-year old will soon rejoin the team as an experienced left-handed starter.

The Yankees needed starters last season and had hoped Pettitte would pitch for them, but he retired after going 11-3 with a 3.28 earned run average in 2010 and stayed retired. But the Yankees have always communicated to Pettitte that they would be interested in re-signing him if he ever wanted to rekindle his career. That is exactly what Pettitte wants to do.

When Pettitte visited here in late February, I asked him if being around some of his former teammates gave him an itch to

CLEARWATER, FLA. – Michael Pineda uncoiled his right arm, moved it forward as if he was about to throw a pitch and then pushed ahead in a forceful way. He made a sound like someone who had just belted a punching bag. Pineda was showing how aggressive he needs to be when he throws a changeup. He has to mimic the way he throws a fastball.

 “Every pitch,” Pineda said. “Every time.”

This scene occurred near Pineda’s locker at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on one of the first days of Spring Training. A conversation with Pineda had shifted to how vital it will be for him to add a reliable changeup to his superb fastball and slider combination. Soon after Pineda arrived in a four-player trade that sent Jesus Montero to the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees

TAMPA -- The Yankees trickled into the clubhouse Monday morning like any other first workout for pitchers and catchers in any other season. There was a slimmer CC Sabathia, a leaner Phil Hughes and a more sinewy Russell Martin, their bodies telling the stories of their productive off-seasons. There were the endless hugs and handshakes, routine ways to reconnect after four months of separation.

But, as much as this opening of Spring Training felt like any other opening for the Yankees, there could be something that is very different about the next six and a half weeks. This could be the final time that Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer ever, is part of Spring Training. Rivera could be ready to retire.

During two interview sessions with reporters, Rivera hinted strongly that 2012 would

Jorge Posada was tired. Not tired of playing baseball. He might never get tired of that. But he was tired of doing everything that he needed to do to prepare himself to play baseball. When Posada didn’t push himself to do baseball workouts in the off-season, his inaction provided the answer that he knew was looming. It was time to retire.

So Posada, the passionate player who reveled in being a catcher and being a Yankee, will never play another Major League game. We will never see him trace his children’s initials in the dirt again. We will never see him hold a bat with his bare hands again. We will never see him lumber around the bases like a reckless locomotive again. We will never see him contribute something vital to a win again.

Every player is supposed to care about

KAOISHUNG, Taiwan -- The father wore his son's uniform jersey and sat in the same dugout as him. He is a proud man and a gentleman, the father is. He felt blessed to be able to watch his son from the best seat in the ballpark, a place that is reserved for the players. But, for these games, the father sat next to the son.

Before Robinson Cano visited this island, he had heard stories about this faraway place through Jose, his father. For five different seasons, Jose Cano left his son in the Dominican Republic and traveled here to pitch. He pitched for the Uni-President Lions from 1992 to 1994 and for the Wei Chuan Dragons in 1998 and 1999. He pitched because that was how he made his living.

As soon as the son was invited to participate in a Major League tour of Taiwan, he telephoned his father.

THIRTY-THREE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT FEET ABOVE THE PACIFIC OCEAN - Four hours into a 14-hour flight from Los Angeles to Taiwan, Robinson Cano looked like Justin Bieber at an elementary school's dance.

After Cano strolled into the back of the Eva Airlines plane that was carrying a team of Major League players to an exhibition tour, the transformation occurred. The flight attendants behaved like eighth-grade girls while Cano channeled Bieber. The giddy women surrounded Cano, burying him with bags of pristine baseballs.

So a smiling Cano placed a pillow on the arm rest of seat 64G, sat down and signed and signed and signed. When Cano wasn't autographing baseballs with his right hand, he was pausing to pose for pictures. There were a dozen flight attendants trying to

I love baseball and I love music. I was fortunate enough to get a job with The New York Times where I wrote about baseball. Now I work for the YES Network and I talk about baseball. I’ve never had anyone offer me money to write about or talk about music. Guess what? I’ve done it anyway.

Whenever I could filter some music into a baseball story, I’ve rushed to do it. That’s why I’ve talked about Biggie Smalls with Barry Bonds, about Johnny Cash with Gene Monahan, about Warren Zevon with Bill Lee and about Cindy Bullens with Tim Wakefield. If there’s a way to jam some music knowledge into my baseball coverage, I will make it happen.

Because of my dual passions, Bernie Williams, the graceful center fielder and graceful guitarist, was a treat to cover. I

Brian Gordon’s car ride from Allentown, Penn., to New York was surreal on Tuesday night. So surreal. There have been dozens of journeys in Gordon’s career that, frankly, ended up being trips to nowhere. So Tuesday’s trip, a trip with a tangible destination in Yankee Stadium, numbed Gordon.

Gordon has been stranded in the Minor Leagues since 1997, a tedious, twisting career that saw him fail as an outfielder for a decade before deciding to try and climb to the Major Leagues as a pitcher. Good luck with that career strategy, right? But, shockingly, he persevered and wiggled into the Majors to pitch three games with the Texas Rangers in 2008.

Now Gordon’s story of persistence and dedication has taken another detour since he has agreed to a contract with the Yankees