Andy wants just one pitch back

BALTIMORE — Andy Pettitte came back to pitch in the postseason, and last night he got his chance, but it didn't go as he had hoped.

The 40-year-old lefty hadn't lost a decision in the divisional series in more than a decade, but he was outdone by Baltimore's Wei-Yin Chen in a 3-2 loss in Game 2 last night.

BOX SCORE

And he regretted one pitch more than any other of his 98: a slider he left over the plate to Chris Davis in the third.

Davis smacked it into right field for a two-run single to give the Orioles the lead for good.

"It was a tough game," Pettitte said. "It came down to the mistake to Davis that scored the two runs. I left the ball in the zone and it cost us two runs."

Anthony J. Causi

END OF THE NIGHT: Andy Pettitte waits on the mound with Alex Rodriguez (left) and Mark Teixeira as Joe Girardi comes to lift him from the game in the eighth. Pettitte surrendered three runs in seven-plus innings and lost an ALDS game for the first time since 2001.

The pitch proved especially costly because the Yankees couldn't get much offense going to support him.

"It was a serious mistake by me in that situation," Pettitte said. "That pretty much cost us the game."

Pettitte figured he wouldn't have much room to work with, which made the third run he gave up, in the sixth, hard to take, as well.

"In a playoff game, you know the number can't get too high before you get a loss," Pettitte said of the three runs he gave up in seven-plus innings.

After an easy time getting through the first two innings — retiring the first eight batters he faced — Pettitte briefly came apart in the third.

A single by Robert Andino to shallow center started Pettitte's problems. Nate McLouth followed with another hit to center before Pettitte walked J.J. Hardy on four pitches to load the bases.

"I lost the feel for my stuff," Pettitte said.

Davis made him pay by ripping a hit to right to score Andino and McLouth and give the Orioles the lead.

"I felt really good early," Pettitte said. "I was pretty suspect after that. It was a real battle and I lost the feel for my stuff."

And he lost a decision in a divisional series game for the first time since dropping one to the A's in 2001.

Like Pettitte, Russell Martin pointed to that one fateful pitch to Davis.

"That was it, really," Martin said. "You want to pitch Davis like it's 0-2 from the get-go, but that one wasn't what we had in mind. Sometimes in these games, that's all it takes."

dan.martin@nypost.com

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