Club plans to honor former Astros pitcher Pettitte

CLEVELAND -- Members of the Astros' front office met Friday in Houston to discuss the proper way to honor Andy Pettitte, the Yankees' pitcher who announced his retirement. Pettitte, a Houston-area native, played for the Astros from 2004-06 and will finish his career next weekend at Minute Maid Park.

Astros president of business operations Reid Ryan said the club plans to honor Pettitte and hopes to have a plan in place by early next week.

"We only have three [home] games left, but without a doubt, we want to do something to honor Andy, because he's had a great career and he's a former Houston Astro and a Deer Park kid," Ryan said. "We just need to figure out what the right thing is to do that you can make meaningful in a short amount of time."

The Astros are already planning to honor Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who announced earlier this year he was retiring, prior to the Sept. 29 season finale. The club plans to present Rivera with an original work of art by Texas sports artist Opie Otterstad.

Former Yankees manager Joe Torre and Roger Clemens, Rivera's former teammate with the Yankees, will also be part of Sunday's pregame celebration.

As far as honoring Pettitte, Ryan said to stay tuned.

"We're feverishly brainstorming," he said. "There's a lot of good ideas floating around out there."