New York Yankees Fan Blog» A.J. Burnett

Yankees Pitching Staff is Falling Apart

homerunheyer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:58:03 +0000

The Yankees once had the best pitching rotation in baseball. Lately, things are starting to fall apart. Andy Pettite is out for around a month with a groin pull, Phil Hughes is starting to struggle in his last few outings not picking up a win, A.J. Burnett still isn’t straightened out, and Javier Vazquez is either on or terrible. The only pitcher that is going well right now is C.C Sabathia.
Then there is the bullpen, once the Yankees strength in 2009, 2010 is a completely different story. Right now as I am typing, David Robertson loaded the bases and luckily got out the jam, but he made things shaky. Vazquez started today’s game and once has a 6-0 lead and now in the bottom of the sixth the Angels are now only down by one 6-5. Luckily the Yankees offense is on fire right now, otherwise the Yankees would be losing a lot more.
Back to the bullpen, Joba Chamberlin is never a sure thing as Mariano’s setup man. When Chamberlin’s slider isn’t working he is very hittable, batter’s wait on his fastball when his slider isn’t on. When Chamberlin’s slider is on, it is hard to tell if a fastball is coming or a slider which leads to a lot of strikeouts. The bottom line is, Chamberlin is not reliable.
Where do I start when it comes to Chan Ho Park. What a terrible mistake for the Yankees. When Park comes into the game you know the Yankees are losing big or he’s the only pitcher available because every time he comes in it seems like the Yankees lose the game. Park is definitely the worst pickup for the Yankees in 2010.
The rest of the bullpen is made up of names like Boone Logan, Chad Gaudin, and Demaso Marte. Not one of them is a sure thing either. A stunning stat is the Yankees bullpen all have an ERA over 4.00 with the lowest being Logan’s at 4.05.
The Yankees are rumored to be looking at Scott Downs from the Toronto Blue Jays. Downs is an excellent setup man, he has a 2.52 ERA in the 44 games he pitched in this season. The Yankees need a guy like downs to straighten their bullpen out.
Again as I’m typing Chamberlin just came into the game and pitched the bases loaded just like Robertson the inning before, but he did get out of the jam also. These guys are always flirting with disaster.
Everyone knows the Yankees are going to make at least one trade for a bullpen pitcher and maybe a starter. The Yankees already showed they are looking for starting pitchers when they just about had Cliff Lee, just to let him slip through their fingers and go to the Rangers. I am surprised the Yankees let that happen. The Yankees do not like getting embarrassed and that certainly was embarrassing.
Some other starting pitchers that are on the block that the Yankees might pick up are Ted Lilly, who started his career with the Yankees, Roy Oswalt, Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, and Dan Haren. (mlb.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Yankees Take First Two Games Against the Athletics

homerunheyer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:40:07 +0000

The Yankees set a new high water mark by winning the first two games against the Athletics in Oakland. The Yankees are now 21 games over .500 and have held the best record in baseball for the last three weeks. The Yankees are looking strong going into the all-star break. The Yankees have five games left, one more against the A’s and then a four game set in Seattle. If the Yankees stay on their hot streak they can easily win every game this week, which would give them more confidence in the second half.
In game one of the A’s series the Yankees had Javier Vazquez go against the A’s ace, Ben Sheets. Sheets has not performed the way the A’s hoped though and had only three wins to go along with seven loses going into the game. On the other hand Vazquez was looking to even his wins and loses. Going into the game Vazquez was 6-7.
This game turned out to be a pitchers duel. Sheets looked like his old self, the one that the A’s thought they were getting. Sheets ran into a little bit of trouble in the second inning when Curtis Granderson and Franciso Cervelli each had two out RBI’s. From there Sheets didn’t let up another run until the sixth inning when Mark Teixeira hit a solo home run. Sheets lasted seven and one-third innings only letting up three runs.
Unfortunately for Sheets, Vazquez was on. The Yankees have seen two sides of Vazquez this year, he either lasts five innings and lets up a ton of runs or he lasts seven or more innings only allowing three or less runs. Vazquez pitched seven innings this time, anytime Vazquez lasts that long people know that he hasn’t let up many runs. In this case Vazquez only let up one run on a Coco Crisp single that drove in Mark Ellis in the third inning.
Vazquez and the Yankees bullpen, only allowed the A’s to get three hits the whole game. It seems like anytime the Yankees have a starter pitch seven or more innings they win. The rest of the Yankees bullpen is weak, the only guys they can trust is Joba Chamberlin and Mariano Rivera and they did it again to secure the 3-1 victory for the Yankees.
In game two, the Yankees had C.C. Sabathia going for them. Sabathia has been on fire lately. After having a rough May, Sabathia has bounced back to win six straight games going into last night. Sabathia earned his was onto the all-star team with his phenomenal June, but he won’t be in it because he’s pitching Sunday. Andy Pettite took Sabathia’s spot on the roster.
The A’s has their surprising youngster Trevor Cahill take the mound for them who was 8-2 going into last night. Cahill is only 22-years-old and is in his second full season in the majors. Cahill was selected to pitch in the all-star game, that’s how good he has been for the A’s this year.
The game started off slow for Sabathia. I have noticed when Sabathia lets up any runs it is usually in the beginning of the game. As the game goes on Sabathia get stronger and stronger, this is why he is such a great pitcher. Sabathia let up a single to leadoff hitter Crisp. Then the next two batters grounded out to move Crisp over to third. Kevin Kouzmanoff then drove in Crisp, picking up a two out RBI single.
The game remained 1-0 A’s until the third inning. In the top of the third Cahill ran into trouble. Derek Jeter came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. Jeter only has one career grand slam, all he needs is a base hit to drive in at least one run to tie the game. Instead Jeter grounds into a fielder’s choice after just making it to first before the throw that would have been an inning ending double play.
Teixeira came up next and was hit in the back by a pitch. Teixeira got hit right under the shoulder blade and it took him a while to walk over to first base because of the pain. Now the bases were loaded once again, this time for Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is the man the Yankees want up in these situations. Rodriguez had 20 grand slams going into the game which is third all time. Rodriguez worked the count to 3-1 and then Cahill left one right down the middle and Rodriguez smashed it for another grand slam. Rodriguez moved up to a tie with Manny Ramirez for second place on the all-time grand slam list. That grand slam also marked Rodriguez’s third of the season.
Cahill came back down to earth this game. Rodriguez gave Cahill the final shove out of the game in the sixth inning when he hit another home run, this time a solo shot. The Yankees held a 6-1 lead behind stellar pitching once again from Sabathia. Sabathia went seven and two-thirds innings only allowing that one run in the first on seven hits and ten strikeouts.
David Robertson came in to pitch the rest of the game and the score remained the same 6-1 Yankees.
Tonight the Yankees have A.J. Burnett going for them who had one of his best games of the year last time out, but the Yankees couldn’t pick up the win for him. Burnett will hope to build on his last strong start after having a miserable June where he didn’t record one win.
The A’s will have Gio Gonzalez going for them who is 7-5 on the season with a 3.50 ERA. (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Yankees lost first game of Mariners Series Thanks to Cliff Lee

homerunheyer — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:56:23 +0000

Last year, Cliff Lee was the ace of the Phillies staff. Lee pitched in game one of the World Series and made the Yankees look pathetic. Lee pitched a complete game, allowing one run on six hits and struck out ten Yankees. Lee put the Phillies in a good position by stunning the Yankees, but everyone knows the Yankees erased that game from their brains and won the World Series in six games. Eight months later, the Yankees faced Lee once again when they met the Mariners at Yankee Stadium last night.
The Yankees wanted to have a better outing against Lee this time around. The Yankees had Hughes pitch, who has been the Yankees best pitcher this season. The Yankees felt good about their chances this time around against Lee. Unfortunately Hughes was not his usual self last night. The first inning looked promising, Hughes put up a zero and the Yankees scored one run in the bottom of the inning. Then the wheels came off for Hughes, from the second inning through the fifth he let up one run per inninng. The Yankees were held scoreless for those same four innings. Going into the sixth inning the score was 4-1 Mariners.
In the sixth, the Mariners unleashed for three more runs to make it 7-1. With Lee’s dominance, the Yankees stood no chance for a comeback. The Yankees were only able to muster one more run in the bottom of the sixth, but wait! In the ninth inning, Lee was looking for another complete game against the Yankees. Lee was obviously tiring, but the Mariners bullpen is so bad that the Mariners coach trusted a tiring Lee over his bullpen. Will the Yankees be able to mount another ninth inning comeback? The Yankees scored two quick runs and with only one out they were down 7-4. Lee remained in the game and got Granderson and the rookie Huffman out to end the game.
At least the Yankees made Lee sweat a little in the end of this game. Lee has the Yankees number and the Yankees have no solution on how to beat him. Instead of losing to him all the time, the Yankees have been rumored that they want to make a trade for Lee before the deadline. If you can’t beat him, trade for him. If the Yankees get Lee their rotation would be solid. Once Burnett is back to his usual self, the Yankees could have five possible number one starters on their team.
Hughes picked up his second loss of the season, last nights game was definitely his worst game of the season. I guess Hughes was due to lose some time.
The Yankees look to bounce back tonight against the Mariners. The Yankees have Javier Vazquez going against the Mariners Felix Hernandez. (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

The Yankees/Dodgers Rivalry Continues On

homerunheyer — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:57:27 +0000

The Yankees and Dodgers have met in the World Series more than any other team in baseball. All of those World Series together, which was mostly when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, created a rivalry between the teams. Before the Mets became the Yankees inter-league rivalry, the Dodgers rivalry was even bigger.

Game One:

This past weekend the Yankees and Dodgers faced off again and this time the heat was back in the rivalry because of former manager and hitting coach of the Yankees are now doing the same with the Dodgers in Joe Torre and Don Mattingly. To go along with those two, the Dodgers also have the old Yankee killer Manny Ramirez and Vincente Padilla who has had a history of hitting Yankee batters.
The first game on Friday had C.C. Sabathia going for the Yankees against Vincente Padilla. After struggling a little bit in May C.C. has been lights out in June not losing any games in the month. Padilla has been injured most of the season, it was only his sixth start of the season.
Both pitchers were lights out, Sabathia started off letting up one run in the first inning from Ramirez’s two out RBI double. The Yankees answered back quickly in the top of the second from Jorge Posada’s RBI single. For the next three innings both pitchers put up zeros.
In the sixth inning Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run to put the Yankees up 2-1 and the score stayed that way the rest of the game. Both Padilla and Sabathia had seven strikeouts each. Sabathia went eight innings allowing four hits and Padilla went seven innings allowing six hits.
Mariano Rivera came in the ninth for the save and struck out all three batters, which leads to the backstory of the fireworks during the game. As I mentioned Padilla had a record with some of the Yankee hitters and it continued in this game when Padilla hit Robinson Cano. Sabathia was not happy about this and when Padilla came up to bat Sabathia hit him in the calf. Padilla looked at Sabathia and started walking towards him, Sabathia did not back down doing the same. Nothing came of it from there. Then in the ninth when Rivera struck out the last batter of the game, Andre Ethier, there was jarring made about the strike calls from Torre and Mattingly who were both thrown out of the game. The game was over anyway so it didnt really make a difference, but they will probably be fined.

Game Two:

The Dodgers really needed a win in this game after struggling mightily lately. The Dodgers season has been up and down all year long and there are rumors that this will be Torre’s last year as manager no matter what happens. Saturdays game had the 0-4 in the month of June, A.J. Burnett for the Yankees against the Dodgers Hiroki Kuroda.
This game was the complete opposite of Friday night’s game. The Yankees started things early when in the first inning they scored three runs on Mark Teixeira’s three-run home run. When the Dodgers got up to bat in the bottom of the inning they scored two runs of their own of the still struggling Burnett. All week the Yankees worked on Burnett’s mechanics to try and straighten him out, but apparently it didn’t work.
After a scoreless inning in the second by both team, the third inning brought on more offense, first by the Yankees adding another run on Rodriguez’s RBI single making the game 4-2 Yankees. That didn’t last for long, in the bottom of the third Burnett imploded once again, letting up three more runs. The Yankees pulled Burnett from the game after that inning knowing that he still wasn’t right. In the fourth inning the Yankees brought in Boone Logan to pitch and he let up another two runs to make the game 7-4 Dodgers. Logan lasted two innings when Chan Ho Park relieved him in the sixth inning. Park had a strong sixth inning, but in the seventh he also let up two more runs to make the game 9-4 Dodgers.

The game wound up staying at 9-4 and the Dodgers receieved their much needed win. Burnett recorded his fifth straight loss and put himself in the history books by becoming the only Yankee pitcher to be 0-5 in the month of June with an ERA over 10. Another concern for the Yankees must be their bullpen. The only guy that can be trusted is Rivera and Joba Chamberlin who when is on is unhittable.

Game Three:

The rubber game of the series featured Andy Pettite for the Yankees against Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers. Pettite has been strong for the Yankees all year long and was looking for his tenth win of the season. Kershaw is also having a good year for the Dodgers looking for his eighth win of the season.
The first offense of the game came in the bottom of the third when the Dodgers scored three runs. In the next inning the Dodgers continued their offense when Ronnie Belliard hit a two run home run to give the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.
Kershaw was dominating through the first five innings holding the Yankees scoreless. Pettite was the opposite having one of his worst games of the season and the Yankees lifted him from the game after five innings.
The Yankees showed a little glimmer of hope in the sixth inning when Rodriguez hit his second home runs of the series, this time a two-run shot to pull the Yankees within three runs, 5-2.
In the eight inning the Dodgers added another run making the game 6-2 Dodgers. That should have sealed the deal and helped the Dodgers start their winning ways once again by beating a good team like the Yankees. Shockingly, the Yankees, after having little offense all game, lit up the Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton. Broxton is known to be one of the best closers in the league, it wasn’t a save situation with the four run lead, but Torre badly wanted this win so they brought in Broxton anyway.
Broxton easily struck out Teixeira with only four pitches to start the inning, but from there Rodriguez hit a single, then Cano toughed out a long battle to get a double that drove Rodriguez in. The next batter, Posada, also had a tough at bat and made Broxton throw a lot of pitches. Posada got a single and then moved to second on a defensive indifference. The Yankees had a runner on second and third with one out and Curtis Granderson up at the plate. Again the Yankees gave Broxton another tough at-bat and Granderson worked a walk to load the bases for the rookie Chad Huffman who was in the game for Brett Gardner who left after getting hit by a pitch from Kershaw. The rookie Huffman also had a tough at-bat and hit a single to drive in two more runs. The score is now 6-5 Dodgers and the Yankees had a runner on first and third with still only one out. The Yankees fate now stands in another rookies hand with Colin Curtis. Broxton is clearly tired and was over 40 pitches thrown for the inning. Curtis just like everyone else in the inning, had a tough at bat fouling off pitch after pitch when he finally grounded to first. James Loney picked up the ball and instead of throwing the ball straight home where Granderson was attempting to score the tying run, he instead got the out at first and then threw off balance to home which made him throw the ball inaccurately and Granderson was safe!
The Yankees came all the way back to tie the game. Derek Jeter was up next to try and score Huffman from second, but he got out. On to the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees bring in Rivera who pitched an easy scoreless ninth. More fireworks erupted when Garret Anderson mad the second out of the inning, on his way back to the dugout he said something to the umpire arguing about a strike called against him earlier in the at-bat. Anderson was thrown out of the game which prompted Torre to come out and argue, but he stayed in the game.
In the top of the tenth, Cano hit a two-run home run to give the Yankees a 8-6 lead. Cano just came that much closer to being named MVP. The home run came off of George Sherill who hasn’t let up a home run to a lefty in 150 batters.
In the bottom of the tenth Rivera went back out and shut down the Dodgers to pick up the win. Again there was more fireworks when the second out of the inning, Russell Martin was thrown out when he thought he receieved a walk only to be struck out looking. Martin slammed his bat on the ground and broke it. The Dodgers had every right to be frustrated, the Dodgers should have never lost that game and the series. Torre looked bad in the last game leaving Broxton out there for so long.
The Yankees hope to continue where they left off in L.A. when they face the Mariners tomorrow night back at home. The Yankees have Phil Hughes going against the Mariners ace Cliff Lee. (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Yankees Vs. Phillies: World Series Re-Match, Yankees Are Still Better

homerunheyer — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:46:52 +0000

Last night the Yankees and Phillies had their aces on the mound for the first game of the World Series re-match. Roy Halladay vs. C.C. Sabathia, this will be a pitchers duel right? Wrong! Halladay was roughed up early starting in the second inning when the Yankees scored two runs on a Brett Gardner Triple, his fourth on the season.
The next inning led to Halladay’s undoing when the Yankees hot two home runs, a solo shot from Curtis Granderson to start off the inning and then a two-run homer by Nick Swisher.
The Phillies answered back in the fourth inning, they scored three runs and beat up Sabathia in the process. Chase Utley hit a ball up the middle that struck Sabathia’s pitching hand. Sabathia un-phased by the batted ball stayed in the game for three more innings not allowing any more runs.
Halladay doesn’t usually let up more than two runs a game. It was shocking to see him get roughed up. The Yankees are used to seeing Halladay over the years when he was on the Blue Jays. It has been less than a year since they last faced him and the Yankees proved that it would take a long time for them to forget how he pitches.
Later in the game Mark Teixeira put icing on the cake when he hit a solo shot that barely squeaked around the foul pole in the fifth inning. That home run capped off a three home run night against Halladay who left after six innings. In a game that was supposed to be a pitchers duel, the Yankees turned it into a laugher finishing the game with two more runs in the seventh to win 8-3.
The Yankees have the up and down A.J. Burnett going tonight against the never-aging Jamie Moyer. I am expecting this game to be very high scoring. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 12-5 score. It all depends on what Burnett will show up, if he’s on it could be an even bigger deficit. Either way the Yankees should crush the 83 mph fastball that Moyer throws. Moyer might be able to get away with that in the National League, if he was still in the American League he would have been retired eight years ago. Hopefully the Yankees won’t get embarrassed, if they don’t win by more than four runs it would be shocking! (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Yankees Lose Two Out of Three to the Blue Jays

homerunheyer — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:51:29 +0000

When it comes to facing teams with a winning record the Yankees have been having some trouble. The same was true this weekend when they lost two out of three to the Toronto Blue Jays who have move within two and a half games behind the Yankees and are tied with the Boston Red Sox for third place in the division.
On Friday night Burnett had a rough outing facing his old team. Burnett was charged with all six runs scored by the Blue Jays. Burnett’s undoing came with his usual suspect, the long ball. Burnett let up three home runs in six innings pitched. Usually when Burnett struggles he gets hammered and again that was the case. The Blue Jays are leading the lead in home runs and they weren’t afraid to show their home run power on Burnett’s mistakes.
On the other side, the Yankees only scored one run against the Blue Jays starter, Brett Cecil. Cecil mixed up his pitches well and kept the Yankees off balance. Cecil became the first pitcher to go eight innings against the Yankees all year.
The Yankees wound up losing 6-1, it was a wake up call for the Yankees who just faced easy competition in the Orioles who were swept by the Yankees.
Saturday afternoon the Yankees had Andy Pettite on the hill and he pitched a gem. Pettite went seven and two-thirds innings striking out 10 batters and allowing two runs on two solo home runs. That should have been enough for the Yankees to win the game, they average 4.5 runs a game on the road. That wasn’t the case though, the Yankees were abysmal at the plate matching the Blue Jays with two runs thanks to Derek Jeter’s two run blast in the fifth inning.
The Yankees wound up striking out 14 times in 14 innings, with the strikeout leader being Mark Teixeira with five. Ricky Romero matched Pettite with a solid eight innings pitched and seven strikeouts. With the lack of offense the game remained tied for 14 innings when the Yankees bullpen couldn’t handle any more. Chad Gaudin recently re-acquired from the Oakland Athletics let up the winning run on an Aaron Hill line drive to center that scored Fred Lewis from second.
Game three of the series was another close game with solid pitching performances from Javier Vazquez and Brandon Morrow. The biggest story of the game was Vazquez who has made it back to his old form and keeps getting better and better from start to start.
Vazquez had a no-hitter going through the first five innings of the game. His only mistake came in the sixth inning when he let up a two run home run to the resurgent Vernon Wells. Vazquez wound up going seven innings with nine strikeouts and only allowing the two runs from Wells.
On the other side, the Yankees were held scoreless for the first seven innings against stellar pitching by Morrow who struck out eight Yankees. It looked like Vazquez who hasn’t been getting any run support all year, may have another tough loss. That wasn’t the case though because the Yankees finally woke up in the eighth inning on relief pitchers Scott Downs and Jason Frasor. The Yankees scored four runs that inning when Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner led off the inning by both getting hit by pitches. Jeter then hit a line drive double to score Cervelli. Then there were some fireworks when Nick Swisher was called out on a check swing that he clearly held up on. Giradi came out to argue and was thrown out of the game by the home plate umpire. Giradi may have done that to fie up his team and win the game and it worked.
Teixeira was up next and was intentionally walked. The Blue Jays wanted to set up the double play with Alex Rodriguez coming up. With Rodriguez down 0-2 in the count Frasor threw a wild pitch that allowed Gardner to score. Rodriguez eventually struck out, but no worries the Yankees best hitter of the season was up next, Robinson Cano, Once again he came through with a two run double to give the Yankees the lead which they never surrendered.
Joba Chamberlin came in to pitch the eight allowing one run to score making the game 4-3 Yankees. Then Mariano Rivera came in for his easiest save of the season. Rivera only had to throw five pitches to record his 13th save of the season.
At least the Yankees salvaged the last game of the series to boost their momentum for another easy stretch of schedule this week with the Orioles and Astros. Phil Hughes will take the hill tomorrow night against the Orioles where he looks to get a team leading 8 wins for the season. (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

Burnett Looks Sharp as He Prepares for First Postseason

GameSetMatch — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:05:29 +0000

Six years ago, A. J. Burnett stood on the field at Yankee Stadium wearing a sweatshirt and a glum expression. His team was preparing for Game 1 of the World Series, but he would not be pitching.

Burnett’s Marlins went on to win the title, beating the Yankees in six games, but he was a spectator, going through his rehabilitation after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery that April.

“It’s really hard not to be a part of this,” he said that day.

On Tuesday night, after delivering six and a third strong innings in the Yankees’ 4-3 victory over the Royals, Burnett recalled his mixed feelings that October afternoon.

“I remember that,” he said. “It was a workout day, and I wasn’t doing much. I was really happy for the guys, but it was tough. Now I feel like I’ll really be a part of it.”

Click here to read the full article – By DAVID WALDSTEIN of New York Times

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