(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-17 09:21

NEW YORK - Andy Pettitte used human growth hormone (HGH) to recover from an elbow injury in 2002, the New York Yankees pitcher said two days after he was cited in the Mitchell Report.

New York Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte reacts on the mound after Oakland A's batter Eric Chavez hit a double in the second inning of their American League baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York, in this July 1, 2007 file photo. [Agencies]

Pettitte said he tried HGH on two occasions.

"If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize," Pettitte said in a statement released by his agent on Saturday. "I accept responsibility for those two days."

Pettitte asked the trainer he shared with fellow pitcher Roger Clemens, Brian McNamee, to help him with HGH while on the disabled list early in the season, the report said. McNamee recalled injecting Pettitte two to four times, Mitchell said.

HGH wasn't banned by MLB until January 2005.

"In 2002 I was injured. I had heard that human growth hormone could promote faster healing for my elbow," Pettitte said in the statement released by agent Randy Hendricks.

"I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible. For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried human growth hormone. Though it was not against baseball rules, I was not comfortable with what I was doing, so I stopped.

"This is it - two days out of my life; two days out of my entire career, when I was injured and on the disabled list," he said. "I wasn't looking for an edge. I was looking to heal."

Pettitte was not linked to steroids in the report, and he said he had never used them.

"I have the utmost respect for baseball and have always tried to live my life in a way that would be honorable," he said. "If I have let down people that care about me, I am sorry, but I hope that you will listen to me carefully and understand that two days of perhaps bad judgment should not ruin a lifetime of hard work and dedication.

"I have tried to do things the right way my entire life, and, again, ask that you put those two days in the proper context. People that know me will know that what I say is true."

The Yankees backed Pettitte.

"We support his coming forward," the team said in a statement.

The 35-year-old lefty is 201-113 lifetime. He started his major league career in 1995 and won four World Series championships with the Yankees. He pitched for his hometown Houston Astros from 2004-06 and helped them reach their first World Series.

Pettitte returned to the Yankees last season and went 15-9. This month, he put off retirement and agreed to a $16 million one-year contract to play for the Yankees next season.