the frustrating career of aj burnett

By now, Yankee fans already know the sad, honest truth: This is what you get when you sign on for the amazing roller coaster ride that is AJ Burnett.

At times, you get the dominant, upper-90s flamethrower with one of the best curves in the game who looks like he should already have three Cy Youngs hanging in his bedroom. We’ll call that “Game 2 AJ.”

call this "game 5 aj"

Other times you get “Game 5 AJ.” The one who looks entirely hittable, who’d have a tough time making the Royals as a fifth starter. Just this year, he’s had two two-hitters, two one-hitters and 21 quality starts (tied for sixth in the AL). Counting the playoffs, he’s also had nine outings where he’s given up five earned runs or more, seven times with six earned runs or more.

He’s the most maddeningly frustrating pitcher in baseball. He has as much talent as anyone who’s pitched in baseball for the last 10 years, but it’s no longer a question of refusing to be able to harness it on a consistent basis. That ship pulled up anchor and sailed years ago. Now it’s just a fact — he’s never going to consistently harness his talent.

And that’s the pitcher you’re left with. One who’s thoroughly dominant one night and shockingly bad the next.

That’s AJ Burnett, and it’s obvious that’s who he always will be. The Yankees didn’t give $82 million to Game 2 Burnett, and they certainly didn’t give it to Game 5 Burnett. They gave it to both of him, and there’s four more years of it where this World Series came from.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up on the bad side of the pile of pitchers who have flamed out in New York.

Oh Larry, you little scamp, causing problems from 3,000 miles away. Can you do us all a favor? Yeah, umm, shut your pie hole. Thanks! Actually, I’m surprised it’s taken this long for someone to accuse the Phillies of stealing signs. You can tell for months that other teams thought it. There would always be extra mound conferences when a guy got to second, the catcher would start in one spot and finish in another, things like that. The Dodgers obviously weren’t the first team to think it, they were just the first team, through their helmet-wearin’ third base coach, to bring it to the media.

It’s time everyone starts signing Mac’s love letter to Chase Utley (a little bad language alert):

Strike that from the record! Suffice it to say, I got about five or texts last night after the second home run that said “You have nice hair” or “You run fast.” But let’s all sit back for a second and marvel at the grandeur that is Chase Utley. Whether he admit it or not, he’s been playing hurt. Now, he’s sucking it up and trying to put the Phillies on his back to win a World Series. It’s the only way it can happen — if someone like Utley just has the series of his life and wills the Phillies to the win. It’s just a lot to ask for. But he’s cementing his legacy with this series. Lenny Dykstra still is revered in Philly for his role in the ‘93 series, despite the outcome. Utley will be deified for his role in this series, especially when he has knee surgery, or a back operation or a foot procedure, or whatever after the season.

Shane Victornino can say all he wants about being fine, but his hand has got to be broken. I’m not doctor, but you just don’t take a hit like that and walk away without a broken hand. It’s pretty darn close to being against the laws of physics that state something like “Getting hit on the fingers of your right hand while squaring around to bunt on a 94-mph AJ Burnett fastball will require surgery.” Everyone likes a tough guy, but this is the World Series. If you can’t play, you owe it to the team to get your butt out of the lineup and let someone in who can play.

Andy Pettitte has looked more comfortable on the mound against the Phillies’ lineup than any of the Yankee pitchers — so why is Joe Girardi being non-committal about using him in Game 6? Seems like an easy choice to me. The fact that Girardi is waffling is either a sign of concern about starting the 37-year-old on three days rest — something he hasn’t done in three years — or just a mind game to play with the Phillies and the media.

new york, meet your daddy. again.

No such mind games on the other side, Pedro seems ready to go. The offense needs to kick it into gear and score five or six runs for him. Same for the Yanks offense for Pettitte, it will be tough for either to duplicate their successes earlier in the series.

This sounds like nonsense to me. But if the Yankees want to believe it took a bookworm GM to motivate them, have at it. I wouldn’t even want to admit that if I were them.

Melky Cabrera hasn’t been doing much in the first place, so it’s not like losing him is a huge thing. But the drop-off between Melky and Brett Gardner is major, and the gap between Gardner and Ramiro Pena is even deeper. The Yanks don’t need it as much anymore with the DH back in play, but if they need a pinch runner in the eighth tomorrow and Pena comes out instead of Gardner and Pena gets thrown out at the plate or something, only then will you feel the loss of Melky.

Sure, Cole, the Phillies should absolutely give you the ball in Game 7! You’ve earned it with your wildly inconsistent regular season, your horrible postseason and your child-like comments in interviews! Take it! Take that game 7 ball! At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s saying that just because he thinks they’re going to lose Game 6 and he won’t have to worry about it.