Maybe Carl Pavano was allergic to pinstripes. It happens. Athletes come to the Apple, only to have their bodies (or minds) break down, typically beneath the burden of an obscenely burdensome contract.

Pavano's Yankee four-year deal weighed 39.95 million pounds -- one for every dollar he was paid -- and his body folded beneath it like a carry-on garment bag.

Now, after four years in which he made only 26 starts, won nine games and missed an entire season, all due to injury (shoulder, primarily, but name a body part and he's probably hurt it), Pavano is pitching like the guy the Yankees thought they'd signed in 2004, the guy who humbled them in the World Series. He's 3-3 with the Cleveland Indians, following a gutsy effort against the Chicago White Sox. He allowed four runs and 10 hits but didn't give up a walk and had three Ks. It was his third victory in three successive starts.

He was praised by Indians manager for throwing strikes. Heck, the Yankees would have been happy if he just threw.

Pavano is a nice guy whose very name ultimately came to represent the essence of Yankee excess without success, another inane decision that bore no fruit. He wanted desperately to prove his worth in New York, trying to return time and time, even when it was clear (at least to Yankee fans) that his body was unable. He actually pitched well in two Yankee victories last August. But in his final Yankee start, in September, he walked off the mound with a hip injury after six innings.

He left with boos raining down upon him from every seat in Yankee stadium.

And maybe even the dugout.

Pavano's drama had also poisoned his relationship with teammates. Before the start of the 2007 season, fellow pitcher Mike Mussina said of Pavano's injuries: "It didn't look good from a player's and teammate's standpoint. Was everything just coincidence? Over and over again? I don't know."

Even Joe Torre said the work Pavano had to do to repair his relationship in the clubhouse was "sizable."

It was never going to happen. Not in New York. Not in pinstripes.

Not with an anchor of a contract hanging around his neck like a rapper's medallion.

After becoming a free agent over the summer, Pavano signed with the Indians for $1.5 million. Finally, it appears he's worth every penny.

AP photos