Tom Pettitte does not avoid the games anymore. There used to be a time when he could not watch his son, Andy, pitch for the Yankees. Tom often grew too anxious when he saw Andy in person, and he routinely grew too ornery when he watched the games on television and heard even the most benign criticism of the left-hander who happened to be his gentle, Bible-reading son.

"I got over that," the elder Pettitte said.

So he planned to be at Yankee Stadium last night to watch his son oppose Josh Beckett in Game 6 of the World Series as the Yankees tried to stop the Florida Marlins and force a decisive seventh game on Sunday. It was the type of high-anxiety game that Tom Pettitte might have avoided a few years ago, not simply because of his mental health, but also because doctors would have ordered him to skip it for his physical health.

Tom Pettitte is a mountain of a man at 6 feet 3 inches and 300 pounds, and he could have passed for a security guard at Pro Player Stadium in Miami on Monday because he towered over them. Unfortunately for the Pettitte, 54, who looks as if he could bench-press a bus, he has also endured a mountain of medical problems that have sometimes made watching Andy pitch an ordeal.

He watched his son clinch the 1998 World Series on TV five after days undergoing double-bypass heart surgery. That required Tom to clutch a pillow against his chest to prevent the stitches from popping. He had two feet of his colon removed. He had an enlarged prostate. He had shoulder and back surgery and takes steroids so he can bend to pick up his grandchildren. Although Tom's last heart examination showed no new problems, he still experiences sweats and feels dizzy at times.

"I just feel yucky," he said.

If there was a road map to explain how Andy, as wholesome a major league player as there is, becomes so ferocious with a ball in his hand, every sign would point to the man who first put a ball there almost three decades ago.

Tom Pettitte worked as a police officer and on the graveyard shift at a chemical plant while guiding Andy to their shared baseball dream. Andy has fretted while his father battled through a lot more pain than any postseason loss could cause his family. Well, maybe for everyone except Tom.

He said he was unsure where Andy found the passion to be a perfectionist in pinstripes and added, "I don't think I did anything any other daddy didn't do with their kid."

But Tom Pettitte was being too modest. He still shifts regularly from being a father to being a pitching coach, still worries about his son more than his next doctor's appointment.

When Pettitte said he felt drained before starting Game 2 of the Series on three days' rest, his father told him to throw two-seam fastballs because the decreased velocity might cause the pitch to sink more. Pettitte attacked the Marlins with two-seamers, but catcher Jorge Posada realized he had more strength and signaled for four-seam fastballs. Pettitte followed Posada and came within one out of a shutout in the 6-1 victory. Call it catcher knows best. "Andy amazes me sometimes," Tom Pettitte said. "He goes out there and just belongs."

Pettitte has been the most reliable pitcher for the Yankees this postseason, with a 3-0 record and a 2.30 earned run average. After Mike Mussina lost Game 1 in all three rounds, Pettitte rescued the Yankees each time by calmly winning the next game. The Yankees needed Pettitte to save them again last night or their season would end, as could his career with the Yankees. Pettitte can be a free agent, and his 21-victory season and terrific postseason will make him very desirable and very expensive.

Tom Pettitte did not attend Game 2 of the Series on Sunday because he flew ahead to Miami with Andy's family so they would be there when the Yankees arrived around 4 a.m. Monday. Interestingly, Andy took his sons Josh and Jared, in matching Pettitte jerseys, to the workout and let them pal around with the team in batting practice that day. No other Yankees' children were there.

Was Pettitte's decision to have his boys at the workout significant? Did he want them to have one final chance to play alongside the team he has spent the last nine seasons with? Maybe.

Tom Pettitte finds it difficult to envision Andy with another team, but said his son will ask God for guidance, make a choice, then pitch next season with his usual intensity.

"I think it's 50-50 whether he'll come back to the Yankees," Tom Pettitte said. "The thing is, if he doesn't, he's doing it because of his family. I left the police department because of my family. If Andy goes, he's doing it for them."