Burnett Brutal But Bombers Beat Birds

Ok, time for another lunch time post. Today's time limit is 18 minutes. Start your stopwatch now.

A.J. Burnett was again awful yesterday. He did everything is his power to lose that game. Lucky for us, the offense and the bullpen bailed him out. A.J. allowed 11 hits and 2 walks in his 5.1 inning outing. That's a WHIP just under 2.50. That is horrible. As I wrote yesterday, Burnett has been inconsistent lately and he hasn't really been good since the beginning if August. Sure he's had a good outing here and there, but by and large, he's been pretty bad. He's now 0-4 in his last 7 starts with an ERA of 6.54 and a WHIP of 1.59. He hasn't been getting the job done.

It was really frustrating watching him relinquish lead after lead yesterday. He gives up a 1st inning HR and immediately out the team in the hole. The answered back with 3 runs in the next two innings and Burnett blew that lead. He got the lead back in the 5th and gave it right back. The Yanks tied it up and then A.J., through no fault of his own, left the game with 1 out and 1 on in the 6th. The bullpen brought it home pitching 3.2 scoreless innings. Well done fellas. Damaso Marte has looked good since being activated from the DL, pitching 3.1 hitless/scoreless innings. David Robertson continues to impress. D-Rob is a K-machine, eh? 58 Ks in 38 innings for the kid. Impressive. Phil Coke even managed to get some outs, something he hasn't done lately. The game was turned over to the legend (Mo Rivera) and that was all she wrote. Take it away John Sterling.

6 minutes to talk about the offense. Cano has been tearing it up lately, going 3 for 4 last night with a double and a jack. He has 9 ribbies in his last 5 games and is 10 for 22 (.454) in that span, raising his average from .314 to .320. Robbie is having a great year. Shame on you if you wanted him traded. He's definitely a HOF-caliber player. He just needs to keep his head straight. They busted out the power sticks yesterday, launching 5 longballs. Posada went deep twice and is now sitting on 19. He hits 1 more to become the 7th Yankee with at least 20 HRs. Jeter will become the 8th if he hits 3 more, which is doable. Crap, I'm out of time. I'll have to go into OT for this one. What's up with Nick Swisher loving Camden Yards? He's hit 4 HRs there and only has 3 at home. That's really odd considering how hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium is. Somebody needs to figure that out.

CC goes tonight for win #16 tonight. The Yanks are facing Jason Berken and his 6.33 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, and .314 OBA. The Yanks faced him and beat him back in July, battering him for 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. The game is a total mismatch on paper. The Yanks are playing well, winners of 5 straight and owners of a 6.5 game lead. I can't think of a reason why they'd lose tonight. Can you?

4 minutes over my limit. D'oh.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie