Game 158-AJ’s last stand

Courtesy of bomberbanter.com

With just 4 more games to play after Game 1 of today’s doubleheader, Yankee fans can take solace in this being Allan James Burnett’s last start of the season, and hopefully the last start he will make in pinstripes. He can’t pitch again in the regular season this year, pitching in Wednesday’s final game in Tampa would mean he’d be going on 2 days rest. CC’s done for the year as well, so that final Tampa game of the season on Wednesday (Undecided vs Price) will probably feature a tag team of call ups going 3 innings a piece. You won’t use Noesi, since starting him would mean he wouldn’t be available for the first few games of the ALDS.

As to AJ’s future, who knows. I’d be shocked if he got a postseason start, even if there was an injury. He’s been among the worst starters in franchise history over the past two seasons, and you can only stick with a failed experiment for so long. They’ve tried numerous mechanical adjustments, 2 different pitching coaches, personal catcher(s), nothing’s worked. Maybe they can shift him to the bullpen next year (doubtful) or maybe they can find a team that willing to take a chance on him (equally doubtful). In cases like his, you usually gets someone else’s headache in return for yours. Think Jeff Weaver for Kevin Brown. But those are questions for another day. In the meantime, soak up your favorite pie-throwing pitcher’s start today, because I suspect it will be his last as a Yankee.

Here’s the lineup from LoHud:

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada DH
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Chris Dickerson RF
Brandon Laird 1B
Ramiro Pena 2B

GO YANKS!!!!!!!