In Yanks biggest, Burnett comes up big 
NEW YORK – There are two sides of AJ Burnett.
You never know what to expect. There are stretches of Koufax-ian greatness with Oliver Perez-ian inconsistency that borders on baffling, maddening and just enough to pull one’s hair out.
In the playoffs, we have seen both sides.
The Yankees had zero interest in participating in another of “As A.J Burnett Turns” before Game 2 of the World Series.
What the Yankees wanted was the man they paid $82.5 million last December to deliver them a victory in Game 2 of the World Series to even the series against the Phillies.
On this night, Burnett would deliver.
Emphatically.
With each weak swing, swing and miss and called strike, Burnett threw as Phillies came up and quickly went right back to the bench.
Most of them had little chance.
Even though the Phillies scored the first run of the game on a sharply hit ground ball that eluded the glove of Alex Rodriguez in the second inning, it did not appear as if it would rattle him.
It didn’t.
As we have seen, it doesn’t take much for Burnett to be off his game. Just when you think he has everything working, he’s in a jam looking to avoid trouble and the inning drags out about as long as a terrible movie that you cannot escape because of the locked exit doors.
During Game 2 of the Division Series against the Twins and in Game 2 of the League Championship Series against the Angels, at times he appeared to be unhittable. Burnett’s power fastball would blow by hitters. His two-seamer would freeze hitters with the umpires calling them out on strikes. When they would expect the hard stuff, here came curveball leading to weak hacks and feeble swings.
Suddenly, “Bad AJ” would appear as if it were a Jekyll and Hyde movie. There was that sixth inning against the Twins and then the fifth inning against the Angels where he threw 33 pitches and needed to confer with Jose Molina six times.
NEW YORK – There are two sides of AJ Burnett.
You never know what to expect. There are stretches of Koufax-ian greatness with Oliver Perez-ian inconsistency that borders on baffling, maddening and just enough to pull one’s hair out.
In the playoffs, we have seen both sides.
The Yankees had zero interest in participating in another of “As A.J Burnett Turns” before Game 2 of the World Series.
What the Yankees wanted was the man they paid $82.5 million last December to deliver them a victory in Game 2 of the World Series to even the series against the Phillies.
On this night, Burnett would deliver.
Emphatically.
With each weak swing, swing and miss and called strike, Burnett threw as Phillies came up and quickly went right back to the bench.
Most of them had little chance.
Even though the Phillies scored the first run of the game on a sharply hit ground ball that eluded the glove of Alex Rodriguez in the second inning, it did not appear as if it would rattle him.
It didn’t.
As we have seen, it doesn’t take much for Burnett to be off his game. Just when you think he has everything working, he’s in a jam looking to avoid trouble and the inning drags out about as long as a terrible movie that you cannot escape because of the locked exit doors.
During Game 2 of the Division Series against the Twins and in Game 2 of the League Championship Series against the Angels, at times he appeared to be unhittable. Burnett’s power fastball would blow by hitters. His two-seamer would freeze hitters with the umpires calling them out on strikes. When they would expect the hard stuff, here came curveball leading to weak hacks and feeble swings.
Suddenly, “Bad AJ” would appear as if it were a Jekyll and Hyde movie. There was that sixth inning against the Twins and then the fifth inning against the Angels where he threw 33 pitches and needed to confer with Jose Molina six times.
In his last start, the Angels rocked him for four runs in the first inning of Game 5. Burnett settled down and pitched into the seventh inning, where the game had now gone from 4-0 down to 6-4 and the Yankees needed just a few more outs from him to seal the pennant.
Those outs never came.
Now it was on Burnett to atone for his previous outing and even this series.
Mark Teixeira’s homerun in the bottom of the fourth tied the game. Burnett continued to hold the Phillies scoreless until Hideki Matsui was able to golf a sinking Pedro Martinez changeup over the short porch in right for go-ahead homerun to give the Yankees the lead.
With the advantage, all that needed to take place was for Burnett to get three more outs.
The bullpen inexplicably has broken down over the course of this postseason. What had been solid bridge to get the ball to Mariano Rivera was now creaky. Phil Hughes was not the same pitcher he was in the regular season. Joba Chamberlain has not fared well. And no one else was simply going to suffice.
Burnett would be the bridge. It was on him to get those final three outs. In the late 90’s, it would be referred to as a “handoff game”.
Ibanez started the inning, walking back to the bench after striking out looking on a beautiful curveball on the black.
One out.
Matt Stairs came up next and three pitches later, he took the slow walk back to the bench as Burnett once again painted a curveball for strike three.
Two outs.
Pedro Feliz would represent the Phillies last hope. Against a pitcher dealing the way Burnett was, he did not stand a chance. On his 108th and final pitch of the evening, Feliz would hit a weak groundball to end the inning.
Burnett’s night was over.
So were the Phillies.
26 men came up to the plate against Burnett. 22 of them saw a first pitch strike.
Certainly, the Phillies were not expecting that type of control from a right-hander who was among the league leaders in walks, hit batsmen and anxiety attacks.
Seven innings strong. Four men reached base on a hit. The final eight did not reach base.
Walking off the mound, he could hold his head up high. It was a masterful performance.
A money-earning performance.
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