The AL East race won't come down to who wins Thursday night at Fenway Park, be it the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox. Whichever team takes the rubber match of the three-game set only wins sniping bragging rights until the teams meet again.
Regardless, the Yankees again are hoping that this is the night A.J. Burnett starts to turn it around. Even though he's behind CC Sabathia, Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon and even Ivan Nova in the starting rotation's pecking order (Phil Hughes and his pet moth are pending), the club still has a lot invested in Burnett and could use an about-face.
Though some of his advanced statistics show (4.02 xFIP?) that Burnett hasn't pitched quite as badly as we all think, he's still got a 5.31 ERA and a league-leading 20 wild pitches. In five starts in August, Burnett produced an 11.91 ERA. Yankees GM Brian Cashman recently called his results "very bad."
And everyone's got advice, for either what to do with, or to, Burnett.
Al Leiter did a somewhat-enlightening video session on the MLB Network showing how Burnett's speed of delivery changes from stretch to the full windup, and how the difference can cause trouble.
Former pitching great Jim Kaat, who also works for the MLB Network, recently did a segment for Yahoo! Sports Radio (we bought out the Sporting News!) and gave his two cents to host Steve Czaban.
"Both these teams [Red Sox and Yankees] prepare so much. They've got extensive scouting and they look at the game from every angle. Sometimes you go out there and you're so bogged down with information and scouting reports, I just say, 'Forget about it.'
"It's a round ball, round bat and you try to hit it square ?�and sometimes it's tough to do, so throw strikes and take your chances."
Easier said than done, of course, which Kaat freely admits. And Burnett's biggest problem is commanding his pitches. He, like the rest of us, has no idea where they're going. In former times, stuff like he had helped him pitch an ugly no-hitter for the Marlins. He also threw harder then.
These days, he's walking people, throwing wild pitches and leaving too many up to get whacked. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild has tried everything, so maybe Kaat is right to try ... nothing.
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