Source: Lower-Hudson Journal

By PETER ABRAHAM
February 15, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. - Andy Pettitte reported to Legends Field yesterday and took a long look around the clubhouse.

"Everything is so much the same," the left-hander said. "It's Groundhog Day, almost."

In that movie, cranky weatherman Bill Murray had to repeat the same day over and over again until he mended his wayward ways. Pettitte's déjà vu is the result of having rejoined the Yankees after three seasons with the Houston Astros.

Pettitte didn't have to take a physical, having done so in December when he signed a one-year, $16 million deal to return to the Yankees. But he showed up anyway.

"That first day with Houston was gut-wrenching; I didn't know (any)body," said Pettitte, who spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Yankees. "But this is so comfortable, which it should be."

In an appropriate twist on Valentine's Day, Laura Pettitte called her husband's cell phone as he was being interviewed. His ring tone was the song "I'm So In Love With You."

Pettitte, slightly embarrassed, took the call.

"I told her before I get to the ballpark, I should get rid of that ring tone," he said.

Pettitte recently bought a home in Purchase, just down the street from where he lived in 2003, when he last played for the Yankees.

Laura and his four children will move there in April.

"It's like we never left," he said. "Everything is the same as it was."

The final piece of the puzzle would be a reunion with Roger Clemens. The 44-year-old free agent is working out and is expected to sign with the Yankees, Astros or Red Sox in May or June.

Pettitte won't recruit Clemens to return to the Yankees. He doesn't think he has to.

"Me and Roger don't talk an awful, awful lot but when we do get together, he does a lot of talking," Pettitte said. "I won't say anything. There's nothing I've got to say. He knows how I feel about him."

Wang ready: Chien-Ming Wang reported to camp well into a throwing program. He spent four weeks with personal trainer Brett Fischer in Phoenix.

"I've been in the bullpen six times," said Wang, who won 19 games last season and finished second in the Cy Young voting. "Everything is good."

Extra bases: The Yankees will wear a black band on the left sleeve of their uniforms in memory of Cory Lidle. The right-hander was killed in a plane crash on Oct. 11. The team also does not plan to assign his No. 30 this season. ... Derek Jeter said he spoke with Bernie Williams and doesn't believe the outfielder will accept the team's offer of a minor-league deal. "He's not coming, from what I understand," Jeter said. ... Humberto Sanchez is listed at 6-foot-6, 270 pounds. But the rookie right-hander who was acquired from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield deal said he is closer to 250. "I feel great," said Sanchez, a native of the Bronx. "It's kind of a dream, come true to be in this room with the Yankees."