With the support of a season-high 12 runs from his bats, A.J. Burnett battled through seven innings to put the Yankees 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. Burnett actually pitched fairly well in every inning except the third inning.
Burnett was having trouble commanding his breaking pitches for most of the night and with two outs in the third he walked Michael Young. It seemed innocent enough at the time, but two batters later a two-run lead became a one-run deficit. If not for the fact that the opposing pitcher was Vincente Padilla, then the Yankees might of been in for a long night. But Padilla was on the mound making his first start since May 16.
Padilla's control was worse than Burnett's and the Yankees let him off the hook in the first and second innings. The Yankees seemed to wake up though, after Padilla plunked Teixeira for the second time and Tex took out Elvis Andrus at second on a hard, but clean, take out slide to break up a potential double play grounder from A-Rod.
A Robinson Cano single knocked Padilla from the game and two batters later Hideki Matsui jacked a Derek Holland offering into the right-center field seats to put the game away.
Burnett settled down the rest of the way and a Posada three-run homer gave the Yankees a lead even Jose Veras couldn't throw away. For all the inconsistency that Burnett has shown with the Yankees, he has given them depth in almost every start. In nine of his 11 starts he has gone six innings or more. The Yankees rotation has done a good job at hiding the bullpen from the opposition and Burnett is definitely been part of that.
Tomorrow Andy Pettitte will take the ball and try to give the Yankees a mini win streak with three in a row. The Yanks will also get a good view of his back and whether or not it's a serious issue. I would also expect to see Wang at some point tomorrow and if they jump on Scott Feldman early then Pettitte may not go deep into the game.
Figure they have to give Wang innings somehow.
3 comments:
Burnett didn't need to throw at the guy's head though. Texiera got hit, then took out the 2B, which stopped the double play and lead to a big rally. That should have been the end of it.
I dislike the term "such and such games over .500." Really, if someone says you're 10 games over, you're actually only 5 games over. Example, the record is 25-15. If 5 of those wins were losses, you'd be .500-- or 20-20. What people should say is, they have 10 more wins than losses. It's just a pet peave of mine. I'm probably the only one who cares.
I think it is too early to even look at numbers of wins and losses. In August and September we know exactly how many games are needed to clinch a playoff spot.
For the first 2/3 of the season, I think there are 3 categories. Above .500, for teams that are decisively so, meaning with at least 5 or 6 more wins than losses. .500, for teams that are within 4 games either way, and below .500, for teams with at least 5 more losses than wins.
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