MLK Day

Cause we shouldn't forget what's really important.

AJ Burnett and Why You Shouldn't Give Up on Him

I am a big AJ Burnett fan. When we signed him I was pretty excited cause I saw what he was capable of in Toronto. In his first season he had a typical AJ Burnett season, or at least consistent with his last 5 or so years. Here is AJ Burnett's statline from the 2009 season:

13-9, 4.04 ERA, 207 IP, 1.40 WHIP, 195 SO, 97 BB

Now compare that to his 2010 campaign:

10-15, 5.26 ERA, 186.2 IP, 1.51 WHIP, 145 SO, 78 BB

His stats have spiked up in the wrong places and subsequently spiked down in the wrong areas as well. If you want a frame of reference, the Yankees have been in existence for over 100 years and AJ Burnett's 5.26 ERA is the worst ever recorded for a starting pitcher with at least 180 innings pitched. Despite these seemingly gloom and doom numbers, I have an optimistic view for AJ Burnett's 2011 season for several reasons.

1. No one repeats their worst season.

Clearly this is AJ Burnett's worst season in his career, while still being healthy. In his career Burnett has not been spectacular but he has always been a consistent player with slightly above average numbers. Although his numbers are only slightly above average, Burnett is capable of matching zeros with any pitcher in baseball. With his ability and a supporting cast behind him, count on Burnett having a bounce-back year. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Larry Rothschild

Dave Eiland, after what most considered a successful campaign, will no longer be the Yankees pitching coach. His replacement will be 15 year coaching veteran Larry Rothschild. In his career, Rothschild has won 2 World Series rings as both a bullpen coach and a pitching coach. Rothschild, before coming to the Yankees, was the pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs. It was clear Burnett needed someone new as Eiland, who was regarded as the pin holding the grenade that was Burnett last season together, could not manage to right Burnett. Having coached for almost 26 years now, Rothschild has encountered his fair share of "project" pitchers. From Rob Dibble to Carlos Zambrano, the new Yankees pitching coach will not be daunted by the prospect of fixing Burnett. Rothschild has the credentials to produce a successful season out of everyone on the pitching staff, including Burnett.

3. Burnett's Attitude

I am of the belief that AJ Burnett has a very firm grip on reality. When I watch Burnett's press conferences or post-game interviews I am not watching a man who is lying to himself or the media. He always knows when he performed well and when he did not. Much like Pedro Martinez, now infamously, Burnett takes full responsibility for when he fails. He knows he made the mistakes. Additionally Burnett falls under the caption of a gamer. He loves to win and loves to come up big when people need him to.

4. Game 4 of the 2010 ALCS

AJ Burnett as we all remember lost this game. However this game holds some bright spots that Yankee fans should remember. It should be noted that Burnett had not pitched in an actual game in 17 days. For a frame of refernce that is around 4 starts that Burnett "missed". After that long of a layoff any pitcher would have a certain amount of rust to shake off. Factor in the poor showings Burnett had experienced earlier in the season and you are left with very low expectations. Despite these odds stacked against him, Burnett did pitch a good game. He had his typical blow-up inning in the third in which he walked a batter, threw a wild pitch and hit a batter. He gave up 2 runs that inning and all things considered he minimized the damage. The big blow in the game came later in the 6th inning. In this inning Burnett gave up a quick single and then got the next 2 batters out. Up came David Murphy and Girardi elected to walk Murphy in order to set up the double-play. Burnett subsequently missed his spot and gave up a 3 run homerun to Bengie Molina. He quickly got the last out but the damage had been done as the 1-run lead had turned into a 2-run deficit. There is a small debate whether or not Burnett should have pitched to Murphy and also if Joba Chamberlain should have pitched to Molina. Regardless, aside from that pitch to Molina AJ Burnett was on his game. He pitched a very solid game and even when he left the Yankees were still within striking distance. It was not his fault that the Yankees could not score more than 3 runs that game. Everyone in the world expected Burnett to get rocked and he didn't. He came through and gave the Yankees a solid performance when they desperately needed one.

5. Game 2 of the 2009 World Series

In my eyes this game is why AJ Burnett deserves a chance this coming season. Let me bring you back to the time. Cliff Lee had absolutely dominated the Yankees throwing a 1 run complete game. Moreover the Phillies lineup looked unstoppable the way they pounded on both Sabathia and a bullpen that had been solid down the stretch. With homefield advantage lost the Yankees risked going down 2-0 with 3 games to be played in Philadelphia against the reigning World Series champions. To compound matters further, Pedro Martinez, the Yankees old nemesis, returned to the Bronx and pitched like the Martinez of old allowing 3 runs in 6 innings and striking out 8. However AJ Burnett matched Martinez pitch for pitch and eventually ended up out-dueling him. Burnett's line that night was 7 IP, 1 run and 9 strikeouts. Providing the Yankees everything they needed, AJ Burnett came up huge on the biggest stage of them all and was downright unhittable all night. If not for Burnett's performance the Yankees might not have won that game and consqeuntly could have been swept out of the World Series. AJ Burnett's performance that night swung the momentum back in favor of the Yankees and ultimately lead to the Yankees winning the World Series.

Burnett can be great or he can be awful. Hopefully I have swayed you to believe that Burnett will bounce back and have another fine season in 2011.

Back after Hiatus

Well there was a considerable dropoff in my posting on this blog. For anyone that actually reads this, I apologize. I'm back and I have some thoughts about where the Yankees are heading. In the future expect to hear about AJ Burnett, Cliff Lee, The Boston Red Sox and Jesus.

Yankees Visit Obama

One of the responsibilities of being President of the United States is that you meet with every championship team during your presidency. So far President Obama has meet with the Lakers, Saints, Alabama Crimson Tide, Pittsburgh Penguins, and others. Today the Yankees meet with President Obama.

This will be the third President for Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera.

Pictures coming.

Unwritten Rules

My last post I mentioned unwritten rules in baseball. I thought it might be a good time to delve into them a bit and explain somewhat.

Unwritten rules are somewhat unique to both Hockey and Baseball. In hockey certain things are just known throughout the sport. For example everyone knows about the fighting in hockey. What they do not know is that fights almost always happen for a reason. Every so often you will see two players start fighting immediately after the puck is dropped. What they are doing is settling a score. Once they get their penalties for the fight everything is over. They have no hard feelings and they do not take it personally. Both men understand that the fight was business and their business is complete. Another unwritten rule is that you do not shoot the puck in an empty net after the whistle is blown.

Baseball has unwritten rules as well. The one that is most well known is the rule that pitchers do not throw at a batters head. These rules are something that I love about baseball, and hockey for that matter. It is a general kinship amongst every player that has ever played the game. Everyone knows these rules and for the most part abides by them. Some of the rules are just a respect for the game and what it can do to you. For example everyone that has played baseball knows what it feels like to be hit with a baseball. So they can only imagine what it would feel like to be hit in the head with a pitch. So in that sense this rule is about respecting the danger of the game. Some rules are just tradition. The quintessential example of this is the no-hitter rule. When a pitcher is pitching a no-hitter the players on the bench will often times leave the pitcher alone, sometimes even avoiding the pitcher so as to not "jinx" the no-hitter.

There is a label for people who break these rules and that is: Bush-league. Bush league has come into the lexicon as a phrase for something that isn't quite right. The origin of this term refers to someone who is unprofessional or simply not in the big leagues. Bush league is a moniker that a player doesn't want to have bestowed upon them. This could mean that players wouldn't want to play with this guy or don't want them on their team. It carries an extremely negative connotation and can be hard to overcome. No one is safe from being bush league. Umpires, managers, and even broadcasters can be labelled as bush. It all stems from breaking these unwritten rules.

These rules are what makes baseball, and hockey, so great. That and history, but that's another story.

A-Rod ... le sigh

During today's game A-Rod annoyed Oakland Athletics' pitcher Dallas Braden. The incident occurred on a foul ball off the bat of Robinson Cano. During the play A-Rod went from first to third and ran back across the field to get to first base. When returning to first, A-Rod ran across the mound. This is what ticked off Dallas Braden. After the game A-Rod didn't understand what got Braden angry and said something he shouldn't have said:

“He just told me to get off his mound,” Rodriguez said. “I was a little surprised. I’d never quite heard that. Especially from a guy that has a handful of wins in his career.”

This is what Braden had to say about the incident:

“I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on the roster, if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m on that mound, that’s my mound,”

I disagree with A-Rod for taking a shot at this guy because he's not a household name. It screams "Do you know who I am?" and I hate people like that. Derek Jeter does not do that and neither does Mariano Rivera. Just because you have a ton of homeruns does not give you that right.

Now normally I would defend Alex Rodriguez just on principle. However this is the second time Rodriguez has broken an unwritten rule. The first time being when he was running around third and shouted at the thirdbaseman Howie Clark. Since Clark thought he was being called off, he backed away from the ball and let it drop in allowing Rodriguez to score. Back to the matter at hand.

Unwritten rules are something not to be tampered with. It is hard to explain why they are important be they certainly are. I hope he wakes up because he needs to start obeying the rules. No one is above the unwritten rules. Not A-Rod not anybody.

Triple Play

Today the Yankees turned a triple play. It was scored 5-4-3.

Kurt Suzuki hit a ball toward third, A-Rod ranged to his right, stepped on third, threw to Cano at second who threw it to Teixeira at first.