When people say baseball is boring, they’re thinking about games like today.
Blustery and damp, the atmosphere was not very pleasant, and neither, for Yankee fans, was the game.
AJ Burnett really only had one bad inning–really, I promise–but that inning meant six Baltimore runs, including a grand slam. After that, it looked like both teams–the Yankees and the Orioles–simply stopped caring.
After last night’s game, which didn’t end until 1.30 this morning, it’s not a tremendous surprise that both teams came out sort of flat (again, excepting that second inning), but if AJ Burnett expects to help take the Yankees far in October, he probably shouldn’t be giving up six runs in one inning to a last-placed team.
After the second inning, the game seemed to speed by, as Burnett managed to calm himself and Brian Matusz of the Orioles did the whole young-pitcher-the-Yankees-haven’t-seen thing. Matusz is one of baseball’s top, and I mean top, prospects, so the Yankees will get to see him more often in the coming years.
In some senses, it’s hard to get too upset about the loss. The Yankees will have, at worse, a 7.5 game lead after tonight, and Jerry Hairston, Shelley Duncan and Jose Molina will not be in the starting lineup in October unless someone gets hurt.
Still, Burnett’s recent performances, with the exception of his work against the Rays, have been unsettling. There is a tremendous difference between going into the postseason with two reliable pitchers, than there is three, and winning one game since the end of July isn’t exactly what Burnett needs to be doing.
The Yankees, who have been so good since the All Star break, will now spend tomorrow trying to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Orioles.
Good thing they got this CC guy, huh?
***
During his first AB, Derek Jeter got a tremendous ovation from the crowd. This weekend may very well be more a celebration of Derek Jeter than it is anything else.
Even if Jeter would hate such a thing, and he probably would, he’s earned it.
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5 Responses to Burnett Burned Early, Yanks Play Bored
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TIQ IQ
Didn’t get this game on the MLB package so I didn’t get to see it but from the highlights and the box score it didn’t look good at all. Brian Roberts is a good players and giving up a HR to him isn’t exactly the worst thing in the world but when it’s a grand slam you can’t be doing things like that on a team that goes deep in the playoffs. I do however believe that Burnett shouldn’t be crushed for his performance lately because he has only had one or two bad games that just looked worse than they were for the most part, and people have to remember this is the first time in a long time that AJ has even pitched in important games in September, so maybe he just hasn’t gotten use to the difference that these games matter and the Yankees aren’t just waiting for the season to end like the Jays and Marlins often were.
“AJ Burnett really only had one bad inning”
Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?
It’s not the same thing… Way to go to the extreme… Burnett had a game a few weeks ago with a perfect game into the 6th and the first hit was 3 run HR and he only gave up 2 its in the game but you can’t say it was a terrible start it was a terrible inning in a good start like today.
Burnett is a guy that makes you nervous pitching in October though. He walks way too many batters and gives up a lot of fly balls which isn’t the best combo for winning games in October. Plus he dosen’t want to work with Posada which if that isn’t solved puts a much weaker bat into the lineup. If CC loses the first game of a series I won’t feel good with Burnett going in a critical game 2.
There have been no problems with Posada since the one game against Boston and I think that is was all blown way out of proportion anyway, if anything Posada was the one with the problem not AJ the pitcher always gets final say on the pitches thrown not the catcher.