Burnett Brilliant In Yanks 5-0 Win

(REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NYY	0	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0		5	8	0
NYM	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	1	0

Winning pitcher - A.J. Burnett (6-4)
Losing pitcher - Tim Redding (1-3)
When you see A.J. Burnett throw the ball like he did tonight you wonder how anyone ever hits him. His fastball averaged 93.97 mph and topped out at 96.4, and his curveball was ridiculous. In seven shutout innings the right-hander allowed just three walks and one hit while striking out a season-high ten batters, and of his 108 pitches, 64 were strikes. The only hit he allowed came when Alex Cora led off the sixth with a line drive single into centerfield. In two games against the Mets this season Burnett has been dominating, holding them to no runs on five hits in 14 innings, walked seven and struck out 18. He has now lowered his ERA to 3.93 and I guess we can stop asking all those questions about if he and Jorge Posada can work together.

Tim Redding kept the Yankees' bats pretty quite for the first five innings, allowing just a long solo homer to Nick Swisher in the third. But in the sixth it took the Yankees just four pitches to extend that lead to 5-0. Mark Teixeira hit a 415 foot double off the wall in right-center, Alex Rodriguez drove him in with a single up the middle, Robinson Cano doubled into the left field corner, and then Jorge Posada blasted a 3-run homer to knock Redding out of the game.

Brian Bruney and David Robertson pitched two perfect innings to finish off the game for the Yanks.

Ramiro Pena had another solid game in place of Derek Jeter. He went 1-for-4 with a double and made a sick diving play in the seventh. Speaking of defense Melky Cabrera made two very nice plays in left tonight, especially this one. The funny thing is, all three plays came on balls hit by Daniel Murphy.

Oh, before I forget, kudos to the fan who got in David Wright's way on that foul ball in the first inning tonight. Nicely done.

I know they have a ton of injuries, but the Yanks have really made the Mets look awful. In the last three games they've outscoring them 29-to-1, and Yankees pitching has set the Mets down in order 14 times in the last 18 innings. With tonight's win the Yankees have won the season series against the Mets for the first time since 2003. The Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow night with Chien-Ming Wang on the mound, he will be facing veteran right-hander Livan Hernandez. First pitch is set for 8:05 p.m. and the game will be on ESPN.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Gardner, CF	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	.293
Swisher, RF	3	1	1	1	2	0	0	.239
Teixeira, 1B	3	1	1	0	2	0	1	.277
Rodriguez, A, 3B	4	1	1	1	0	0	3	.227
Cano, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	1	2	.301
Posada, C	4	1	1	3	0	2	0	.271
Cabrera, Me, LF	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	.291
Pena, R, SS	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.267
Burnett, A, P	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.200
Bruney, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Matsui, H, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.248
Robertson, D, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	35	5	8	5	4	8	10
a-Flied out for Bruney in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Pena, R (5, Redding), Teixeira (21, Redding), Cano (18, Redding). HR: Swisher (14, 3rd inning off Redding, 0 on, 1 out), Posada (10, 6th inning off Redding, 2 on, 1 out). TB: Swisher 4; Teixeira 2; Rodriguez, A; Cano 2; Posada 4; Cabrera, Me 2; Pena, R 2. RBI: Swisher (39), Rodriguez, A (37), Posada 3 (32). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano; Burnett, A. Team RISP: 2-for-5. Team LOB: 7.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett, A (W, 6-4)	7.0	1	0	0	3	10	0	3.93
Bruney	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.00
Robertson, D	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.60

METS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett (W, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Jorge Posada (1-for-4, 3-run homer, and called a great game)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Mets
Game Time: 8:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: ESPN, WCBS, WFAN
Chien-Ming Wang (0-6, 11.20 ERA) vs Livan Hernandez (5-2, 4.05 ERA)