Burnett Struggles But Yanks Homer Their Way To Another Win

(AP Photo/Rob Carr)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NYY	0	2	1	0	2	1	3	0	0		9	12	1
BAL	1	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	0		6	13	1

WP - Damaso Marte (1-1)
LP - Chris Ray (0-3)
SV - Mariano Rivera (38)
Tonight's win over the Orioles makes it five wins in a row for the Yanks, who are now a season high 36 games over .500. They won despite A.J. Burnett's fifth shaky start in a row. The right-hander allowed six runs on eleven hits in 5.1 innings of work, and once again had very little command of any of his pitches.

The Yankees offense bailed him out only to have him cough up whatever lead they handed him. The led 3-1 after two and half, then the O's scored two to tie the game. Then, after the Yankees regained the lead with another two runs in the fifth, Burnett allowed a three-run homer to Luke Scott that briefly gave the O's a 6-5 lead.

I just can't figure out Burnett. He's got the kind of stuff that he should dominate every time out and some nights looks unhittable. But he can't maintain consistent command of his pitches and seems to get rattled on the mound pretty easily. When he's good, he's really good, and when he's bad he's really bad. I guess it's just something we fans must get used to.

As NoMaas.org pointed out tonight, Andy Pettitte has clearly been the Yankees second best starter this season and deserves to be the no. 2 starter come playoff time.

Luckily for the Yanks, on this night they faced the O's, and they stink. The Yankees pounded out five home runs on their way to their 84th win of the year. Robinson Cano got things started with a two-run shot off O's starter David Hernandez in the second. It was Cano's 22nd of the year. Jorge Posada made it 3-1 with a solo shot in the third. Then, two innings later, he smacked another one, a two-run shot to give the Yanks a 5-3 lead.

Posada did have a couple embarrassing moments tonight. First, with a 3-2 count in the second, he took ball four but forgot how many balls there were and stood at the plate until the ump and his teammates reminded him that he had walks. Then in the fifth he once again forgot the count and thought he struck out when the count was actually 3-2. Later in the at-bat he hit his second homer of the game, but his teammates won't soon let him forget his brain fart.

Baltimore's 6-5 lead wouldn't last too long because the Yanks tied it one half-inning later on an Alex Rodriguez RBI single. This is the part of this team that I like the most, they get hit and get right back up and hit you back. I have not seen a Yankee team with this much resiliency in a long time, maybe since the dynasty teams.

They took the lead for good in the top of the seventh when Nick Swisher launched a two-run homer off O's reliever Chris Ray. Eric Hinske made it back-to-back, and a belly-to-belly when he followed Swisher's blast with a solo shot to extend the Yankees lead to 9-6.

From then on the Yankees bullpen took over and did a phenomenal job. Damaso Marte, who has been great since rejoining the team, retired all three batters he faced and did so on just seven pitches. David Robertson then came on and struck out two in one scoreless inning. Phil Coke followed and retired the two batters he faced. And then the great Mariano Rivera came in for his MLB-leading 38th save of the year.

Boston won again tonight as they continue to solidify their hold on the AL wild card, but the Yanks still knocked a game off their magic number, which now stands at 25.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia takes the mound tomorrow night as the Yanks go for the sweep in Baltimore. He will be facing O's right-hander Jason Berken. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on YES.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	2	1	2	.333
Damon, DH	5	0	1	0	1	2	5	.288
Teixeira, 1B	4	1	0	0	2	2	6	.281
Rodriguez, A, 3B	5	0	1	1	0	2	4	.269
Posada, C	4	3	2	3	1	1	2	.280
Cano, 2B	4	2	3	2	1	0	0	.320
Swisher, LF-RF	5	1	1	2	0	2	2	.248
Hinske, RF	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	.250
Hairston, J, LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.258
Cabrera, Me, CF	4	1	2	0	1	1	1	.273
Totals	40	9	12	9	8	12	23
BATTING 2B: Cano (40, Ray, C). HR: Cano (22, 2nd inning off Hernandez, D, 1 on, 0 out), Posada 2 (19, 3rd inning off Hernandez, D, 0 on, 2 out; 5th inning off Hernandez, D, 1 on, 1 out), Swisher (23, 7th inning off Ray, C, 1 on, 0 out), Hinske (7, 7th inning off Ray, C, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter; Damon; Rodriguez, A; Posada 8; Cano 7; Swisher 4; Hinske 4; Cabrera, Me 2. RBI: Cano 2 (74), Posada 3 (66), Rodriguez, A (71), Swisher 2 (72), Hinske (22). 2-out RBI: Posada; Rodriguez, A. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon; Posada 2; Rodriguez, A; Teixeira. Team RISP: 2-for-10. Team LOB: 12. BASERUNNING SB: Cabrera, Me (9, 2nd base off Albers/Wieters). FIELDING E: Teixeira (2, missed catch). DP: (Cano-Jeter-Teixeira).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett, A	5.1	11	6	6	2	2	2	4.29
Marte, D (W, 1-1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9.35
Robertson, D (H, 3)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	3.46
Coke (H, 16)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	5.06
Rivera, Ma (S, 38)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.78

Pitches-strikes: Burnett, A 109-70, Marte, D 7-3, Robertson, D 21-14, Coke 9-6, Rivera, Ma 21-13.

ORIOLES STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jorge Posada (2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB, 3 R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Robinson Cano (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Orioles

Game Time: 7:05 p.m. TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP CC Sabathia (15-7, 3.56) vs. RHP Jason Berken (4-11, 6.33)