Cesar Tordesillas

West Point, NY

Despite losing some of their stars to injuries, New York Yankees veteran starter Andy Pettitte expects the team to compete for their 28th World Series crown.

"I don't let my mind go in that direction because I think we're going to win our division and I expect us to be in the World Series. Bottom line," Pettitte said before the Yankees played their final exhibition game against Army at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

"I think we got the pitching and bullpen to do that and I feel like if people think we're going to be short on scoring runs, we're going to figure out how to score enough runs to me. To me, I feel great about our club," he added.

In the past, the Yankees enter every season as one of the favorites to make it to the World Series.

However, it was different this time as some of their stars will start the season on the disabled list, including third baseman Alex Rodriguez, shortstop Derek Jeter, first baseman Mark Teixeira, center fielder Curtis Granderson and starter Phil Hughes.

The four hitters combined for 100 home runs while Hughes won 16 games for the Yankees last season.

Several of the Yankees key pieces last season also turned free agents and signed with other teams, including starting catcher Russell Martin (Pittsburgh) and right fielder Nick Swisher (Cleveland).

To compensate for their loss, the Yankees recently traded for outfielder Vernon Wells and signed first baseman Lyle Overbay.

General manager Brian Cashman said the Yankees have to persevere through the tough times until all of their regular starters return from injuries.

"Right now with what we're going through it's easy to say, hey they're down and out. I understand that. That's the easy thing to do. Our job is not to find the easy road. Our job is to say, 'Hey, we might have some guys down but don't count us out,'" Cashman said.

"Our job is to make sure we find a way and I've repeated this a few times already, we need to find a way to survive and thrive despite what's occurred. That's what good baseball teams do," he added.

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Andy Pettitte Expects Yankees to be in World Series