In all my years as a Yankee fan I cannot recall a player who makes me scratch my head more then AJ Burnett. One minute I am ready to shuffle him off to any team that will take him for free and the next I am saying to myself, hmmm. Well, maybe he is finally turning it around.
So I ask, will the real AJ Burnett "Please stand up, please stand up, please stand up!" (My apologies to Mr. Shady!) And can the AJ Burnett we saw last night please just stick around for like, 2 1/2 months? Look, the A.J. who pitched last night certainly is not going to win Cy Young's with these kind of performances, but with our offense it certainly could be enough to help us back to the Promised Land.
AJ did enough to win tonight and keep the Yanks in the game, and that is exactly what he needed to do and what we needed from him. Burnett and the Yankee offense, led by Derek and Brett Gardner, propelled us back into a tie first place. Burnett had his fastball under control for the most part and his breaking ball kept the Royal hitters off balance just enough. He mixed up his pitches nicely tonight. Despite giving up 10 hits, he only walked one and struck out a pair of Royals. Trust me, I was just as shocked as most fans when AJ actually made it through 5 innings without a blowup. So let's tip our hands to Mr. Burnett tonight Yankee fans and give credit where credit is due.
As mentioned, the Captain had a great game at the plate. Jeter went 3-4 with 3 RBI's, including a triple in the 6th that gave us a 5-3 lead. In fact, Jeter shined at both the plate and in the field. It's been a tale of two seasons for the Captain and his second half has been outstanding! Jeter is hitting almost .400 in the month of August and around .320 since the All-Star break. He just looks very comfortable at the plate and in the field, and, more importantly, looks healthy. Brett Gardner not only set the table tonight going 2-4 but knocked in a pair of runs and scored one too. The Jeter-Gardner , 1-2 punch really seems to work. I trust Jeter will see how Gardner leading off will really give us the best chance of winning. Casey's been screaming about it all season! I know it's gotta be hard to give up that lead off spot but Jeter is an unselfish player and a true Captain and knows better than anyone how to win. He knows that Gardner leading off gives us the best chance to win every night. No one knows winning like Derek Jeter!
Although a far cry from his last game, Jorge Posada still had another solid game going 1-2 with two runs scored. If Jorge can continue to put together solid AB's he will earn that post season roster spot. I cannot even imagine a Yankee playoff roster without Jorge on it, can you?
Overall, the Yankees smacked 13 hits and earned 5 walks. Hard to pick on them when they win but they were only 6-21 with RISP. So despite scoring 7 runs, they could have easily turned this into a blowout. I don't think it's asking too much for the Yankees to sweep this series if they continue to hit and pitch like this. We shall see...
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST NIGHT'S GAME:
- Swish hit his 23rd double of the season.
- Once again another solid performance by the best bullpen in MLB. Yankee relievers pitched 2 1/3 - 2 Hits - 1 ER with a pair of strikeouts and a pair of walks. Mariano Rivera earned his 31st save of the season and the countdown to 600 career saves officially begins -- Mo needs just 10 more for that magic number!
- Once again Cano had a pair of hits -- now batting .305 for the season.
- David Robertson pitched 1 inning tonight without giving up a run -- he continues to lower his ERA -- its now 1.32!
The 2nd game of this three game series continues tomorrow night and Ivan Nova looks for win #12.
--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer
Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com
Twitter: @MikeyBlu23
Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.
Twitter: @MikeyBlu23
Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.
the offense bailed out AJ last night. AJ allowed 11 of 25 batters faced to reach base, including walking in Melky Cabrera after getting an 0-2 count on him. It was only the 2nd time this season that Cabrera walked after an 0-2 count.
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