The Astros are going to shut down Andy Pettitte for a start in the hopes that his tight forearm will loosen up. Pettitte was quite lousy in his last start, and the Astros were all over themselves painting this one precautionary.
If the Astros were, like, in the middle of an actual pennant race, the parallels to 2004 would be just too eerie, and I'd be panicking, vomitting, the whole thing.
But never fear, says Purpura.
"It didn't make sense to send him out there less than close to 100 percent," he told the press corp as reported by Alysson Footer on astros.com. And if that particular equivocation doesn't soothe your primal fears, Purpura went on to say, "I don't see why he wouldn't [make his next start], unless he doesn't progress."
Well, yeah. I think we can all agree with that.
The pitcher formerly known as Eny Cabreja (and currently known as Wandy Rodriguez) has the best shot at taking Pettitte's slot, but I guess the greatly feared Dave Burba could also get the nod.