Tossing aside talk of a cold and temperature, A.J. consistently pounded strikes in his first start of the 2011 season.
“I’m going to tell you how it’s going to be,” starts the song
Not Fade Away by the Grateful Dead, and watching A.J. Burnett fashion four strike outs the first time through the Detroit batting order, I was doing a little predicting myself. It was clear from the outset that Burnett was comfortable on the mound, throwing his heat and his bender for strikes. High cheese at 94 and an 83 mph curve had Austin Jackson on his heels; a swing and a miss at a four-seamer two throws later sent the ex-Yank prospect to the bench.
And it continued. I’m not here to say that A.J. threw a no-no, nor that the Tigers never got a whiff. But despite the obligatory wild pitch in the second inning, Burnett made it clear that he trusted his stuff this day. He was a strike-throwing machine, pounding 17 of 21 first-pitch strikes through five frames, including 10 to the last 11 Tigers batters he faced.
With two good offensive games under his belt, the bigger news on Russell Martin is that the Yankee starters are flourishing on his watch.
Granted, the Yankee offense took the heat off their right-hander early, scoring three runs in a lively first inning rally, then doubling that lead on Mark Teixeira’s second three-run home run in as many games. The Yankee offense is working its way into respectability in the frigid north as well, and there was a point late in this game that the constantly updating stats on the board had five of the nine Yankees hitting .333, with the still-stroking-the-ball Alex Rodriguez dwarfing them all at a lusty .600. Alex would homer for the Yanks’ final run in the sixth, but not until head-turning catcher Russell Martin quieted Tigers hopes with a three-run drive in the fifth. Robbie Cano just missed his first homer on a double before that, and he, A-Rod, Derek Jeter, and Brett Gardner had two hits apiece.
Detroit had made it close with a two-run fifth off Burnett, and later padded their total with a two-run Miguel Cabrera bomb off Luis Ayala in the eighth before plating their sixth run against Boone Logan in the ninth, with the tally crossing on Eduardo Nunez’s errant throw. David Roberston had allowed two hits in the sixth, so the bullpen that was perfect for three innings Thursday scuffled a bit in this one, enough so that Mariano Rivera was forced to come on for his second save in as many games in a contest the Yanks had led 9-3 in the fifth after the Martin homer.
The 2011 starting lineup scoreboard graphic does a great job.
But the Bombers approached this season with a superb offense, one that set the bar in AL scoring the year before, and that has plated 16 runs with five home runs in two games in 2011. With 2010 saves leader Rafael Soriano in to set up games for Rivera, a rejuvenated Joba Chamberlain, and tough lefty Pedro Feliciano and maybe Mark Prior waiting in the wings, the pen figures to be a six-month strength.
Early on, Russell Martin is showing signs that he may be the best 2011 Yankee acquisition.
The Achilles heel of the 2011 Yankees is supposed to be the starting rotation, with the work of No. 2 starter Burnett having a lot to say about how that plays out. His inconsistent 2010 campaign probably cost the Yanks the AL East title, and he wasn’t able to post a win in the postseason either. But A.J. was money Saturday afternoon, even if singles off his first three pitches of the fifth inning threatened to get the Tigers back into the game. Veteran Detroit righty Brad Penny, once he retired Gardner leading off the bottom of the first inning, saw the Yanks take his next five thrown strikes and turn them into a single, called strike in a five-pitch walk, single, double, and sac fly. He responded by missing the plate with 20 of the next 34 throws, planning apparently to do
anything but throw a ball over the plate. Burnett showed no such caution Saturday, and he finished the fifth throwing strikes despite the three quick hits.
Sporting his new high-socks look, Mariano Rivera saved his second straight game.
A.J. topped CC Sabathia’s strikes/balls ratio from game one, throwing 58/28, and continuing CC’s knack to garner swings and misses, with 15 in his five frames. He struck out six, walked just one, and allowed three runs on five hits, including a Jackson home run and the three straight singles in the fifth.
On April 2, 2011, we commemorate the 206th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christen Andersen, creator of more than 150 fairy tales. “Once upon a time there was a right-hander named A.J. Burnett, and he posted a 21-6 season for the 2011 Yankees as they garnered their 28th World Championship.”
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BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!
