Results tagged ‘ A.J. Burnett ’
Oh Happy Day
It really is a happy day for a Yankee fan. Just last night, the Yankees defeated the Angels 7-4. Everything is clicking for the Yankees right now and it is great to see. But the Yankees’ victory yesterday was not the only good news.
The Red Sox were destroyed by the Rays last night in Tampa in a 13-0 rout. Matt Garza pitched a great game against the Sox bringing a perfect game into the seventh when he allowed his first hit of the game to Jacoby Ellsbury. Also, the Blue Jays lost at the hands of the Royals. The final score was 8-6.
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Last Night’s Overview
Last night, the Yankees sent A.J. Burnett to the mound. In seven strong innings, Burnett gave up four runs on eight hits including a homer. He struck out five and only walked one. Overall, Burnett’s performance was good. He stayed in control despite the four runs. He kept his cool and finjshed the game strong.
At the plate, the Yankees were led by Derek Jeter and Melky Cabrera with two hits and an RBI each. Every starter finished the game with a hit. Johnny Damon was the only Yankee to go deep in the affair and did it in the third. It was only a solo shot but still… it’s better than nothing. Jeter, Damon, Cabrera, Matsui, and Ramiro Pena all drove in runs.
The bullpen was good… finally. Phil Coke put in his second outstanding performance in a row throwing a perfect eighth with one strike out and no hits or walks. He also got the win as the Yanks offense kicked it up a notch late in the game. Rivera was, well, Rivera. He gave up one hit in his one inning pitched. He picked up the save as the Yanks went on to win their fourth straight.
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The Blue Jays and Red Sox have been tied for first for about a week-a week and a half now. But the Yankees, with their great play of late, have started to creep up on them in the A.L. East standings. We are currently only 2 games out of first. Hopefully, the sharp all around play from the Yanks will continue through the series with the Angels and ultimately, through the rest of the season. Go Yanks!
-DillonMcT
Swish Brings Sweet Swing To Yanks’ 8-6 Win
Joba Chamberlain vs. Rick Porcello was going to be a great matchup in the series finale. So far, the series had been split 1-1, each team shutting out the other in their victory. It was going to be a good game.
That’s exactly what it was. Nick Swisher had an outstanding game at the plate hitting two
homers and driving in four. Hideki Matsui had a big game with a two run double in the fourth. Johnny Damon also pitched in with two hits and one RBI.
The pitching was great for the majority of the game but the ninth inning proved to be just short of disastrous. Jonathon Albaladejo pitched 2/3 of the ninth in which he gave up four runs on three hits and a walk. Mariano Rivera then came in to try and finish the game off. But I think he was still a little out of it after he gave up a game tying homer to the Red Sox’s Jason Bay. He gave up a run on a homer by Curtis Granderson. Other than the tough ninth, the pitching was fantastic. Joba pitched seven with only three hits and three walks. He also had six strikeouts. He is finally starting to look comfortable in the starting role. It has taken him a while but he is finally coming around. Phil Coke pitched a perfect eight, which was probably his best performance on the season.
In the end, the Yanks were victorious and that is really all that matters. The ultimate goal as a team is to win.
Now here are my thoughts on one of the biggest stories from the Yankees so far this
season. Nick Swisher. We knew he was going to be a great backup for the Yankees seeing that he can play both outfield and first base. This would allow the Yankees to rest some of their outfielders as well as their first baseman, Mark Teixeira. Swisher could easily sub in at any of those positions and play well. Unfortunately for the Yanks, starting right fielder Xavier Nady went down with an injury early in the season and forced the Yankees to put either Swisher or Melky Cabrera in the outfield to replace Nady. Since Swisher had already been playing well during the time he filled in for Teixeira due to a slight hand injury, the Yanks went with Swisher and well… it has been a terrific decision judging from the way Swisher has played. He has been on fire. He has a .307 batting average, 7 homers and 19 RBI’s. Nine of his 23 hits this season have gone for extra bases. He has a .720 slugging percentage that… well it pretty much speaks for itself. All of his stats do. Overall, Swisher’s presence has helped the Yankees on the field as well as off the field. He has really been the spark plug of this Yankees team. He has been the most consistent player at the plate. When A-Rod comes back, the Yankees will get just another weapon on offense to add to the ones they already have. Swisher has been huge and will continue to be whenever he plays.
Next the Yanks head back home to face the Angels. A.J. Burnett is set to go after a shaky last start. The Yankees are on a run right now and hopefully they can keep up the hot play from the offense as well as the good pitching. Again, the key is the bullpen. As long as the bullpen pitches well, we should be good. As long as the offense keeps up the great play and the starting pitching is as good as it has been the last two games, I’m thinking we will have a pretty good chance at winning at home against the Angels.
-Dillon
The Bronx vs. Beantown- Episode 2
Just when you thought A.J. Burnett may be the answer to all our pitching problems, Jason Varitek hits a granny.
Through the first few innings, Burnett looked good. No runs allowed, a couple strikeouts here and there. It looked like the Yanks were going to cruise to a win. But then the Red Sox bats woke up. The Sox started to get on base and it all went downhill from there.
Jason Varitek came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit one out. That shortened the lead to one run.
Finally, the inning was over and the lead was only one. From there on, both teams scored here and there until the Red Sox went up by five. After four and a half hours, the Red Sox won the game with a score of 16-11. Another dissappointing loss for the Yanks.
Tomorrow’s game will hopefully end with a win for the Yanks. It will end a difficult streak of losses. It will also keep them at pace with the Red Sox in the East. Right now, the Yanks are in third place in the East. They are three behind Toronto who is in first and are two behind Boston who is in second.
Burnett to the Rescue
The Yanks looked absolutely terrible in their 22-4 loss to the Indians Saturday. Chien Ming Wang’s struggles this season is not only a mystery to us as fans, but to himself as well as the Yankees. Hopefully he can figure out what is wrong and fix it before it is too late.
So what does a team do after a 22-4 loss? They go to A.J. Burnett.
Burnett’s fantastic performances so far this season has made him the centerpiece of this Yankee pitching staff. Sunday, Burnett gave the tired bullpen as much time on the mound as he could, pitching 6.1 innings. He didn’t have his sharpest outing of the year but he did get the job done. He walked seven and threw three wild pitches in his time on the mound. He also gave up two homers. On the positive side of things, he did have two strikeouts and only allowed the three runs. It wasn’t too bad. Burnett got the No Decision and the Yanks eventually won the game.
The Yanks are currently 7-6 and are sitting in second place in the A.L. East behind Toronto who is 10-4. The Yanks are only 2.5 games behind the Jays and the top spot in the East is very reachable. The thing the Yanks need to do the most is to improve the bullpen. They either have to go out and get somebody or work non-stop with them until they can get guys out after the starter comes out. That is the key to the Yankees’ success this season. If the Yanks are going to win, they need the bullpen to be successful.
Burnett Solid- Again
The Yanks new that when they signed Burnett, they were taking the risk of him getting injured. So far, Burnett has shown no signs whatsoever of having even the slightest injury. In his first two starts, Burnett has been solid. His season stats include a 2-0 record, a 2.70 ERA, and 15 K’s. Burnett has been the best pitcher in this rotation, both starting and bullpen, so far this season. If Burnett stays healthy, the Yanks will benefit so much. I have appreciated Burnett’s pitching so far this season because both starts came in games where I really needed to see the Yanks win. The Yanks started off the season with some tough losses and Burnett came in to get the win. After a couple more losses to KC and Tampa, Burnett came in again to get the win. He has looked great and I have really enjoyed watching him play well. I’m sure every other Yankee fan has too. Hopefully he can stay healthy so he will be able to continue his fantastic play.
They’re Here and They’re Not Going Anywhere
After falling asleep in the first two games of the season, I have been woken up by the sound of the Yankees’ bats. After losing two games to open the season, the offense has shown up and has really made an impact. They beat the Orioles 11-2 in the third game of the season. The next day, they beat the Royals 4-1. Scoring 15 runs in two games is definitely something worth talking about. Some may say the Yanks are not going to have a season that they were expected to have just because of the two losses to open the season. The fact that they scored 15 runs in two games to me says that the Yanks are here and they’re not going anywhere. The Yanks as a team had a couple of off days to open the season and that is not a big deal. Everyone has their off days. But the key is, everyone has their on days too. Sabathia and Wang were just unlucky and had off days on their 2009 debuts. Burnett and Pettitte were lucky and were on in their debuts. The pitching staff is a very special group of players that will be a very big part of the this team come the end of the season. The offense is also a great group that we are lucky to have. From top to bottom the batting order is full of proven veterans and rookies ready to make their own mark on this franchise. It is going to be a great season and now that the Yanks are here, I don’t think they are going anywhere. My final statement is this… the Yankees are going to have a great season on the mound, in the field and at the plate. Sure it took them a couple games to get going but they did it and they are going to be hard to stop once they get rolling. Watch out MLB, here come the Yankees.
A Baseball Supernova
Probably the best method of avoiding being swept in a series would be to have you offense score a lot of runs and have you pitching be very good. That’s exactly how the Yanks did things Thursday when they demolished the O’s, much to my delight, 11-2.
A.J. Burnett started the game and went 5 1/3 innings. He only allowed two runs, which would be all the Orioles could muster up against the Yanks. Now this is the best part. He supplied the Yanks’ starting rotation with their first six strikeouts of the season free of charge. OK, so we’re paying him $82.5 million to do it but hey… it’s a start the Yankees’ pitching staff needed. Burnett did get into a couple of jams but got out of them in spectacular fashion by making some big pitches. I thought Burnett looked outstanding and is going to be huge for this staff this season. The pitching overall was really good.
The offense that has been missing the first two games finally showed up by scoring eleven runs total against the Orioles pitching. It was an offensive explosion. A baseball supernova. Swisher and Big Tex had great offensive games that included their first homers in pinstripes. Both players should have a little pressure taken off now that they have had a good offensive game. Robby Cano also hit a shot that left the yard. The whole offense showed up Thursday and put on a great show. It was almost like the globetrotters to me… always wondering what was going to happen next. It was great. Everyone contributed to the show and that says a lot about this offense. Every single player in this offense is capable of putting up big numbers. Although it isn’t the best offense, you can’t afford to underestimate them. The long ball is a big part of their game but they can also manufacture runs. The offense is coming along and when they get A-Rod back, they will only be better.
The Yanks play KC next and they will face some good pitching that is starting to come around. The Royals are a relatively young squad but they do have a lot of talent. You definitely can’t afford to underestimate them. They can explode similarly to the way the Yanks did Thursday. I’m looking forward to the upcoming games because the Yanks should have some pressure taken off now that they have their first win of the season. They can only get better. The Yankees are always going to be great to watch. They’ll lose some and they’ll win some… hopefully win more than lose. The standings in the league are going to get more spread out now that the first few games are over. Hopefully they can get to the top of the A.L. East and stay there. It’ll be tough to compete with the Rays and Red Sox but the Yankees have a good team and they should do fine. I was excited for the Yankees to get their first win Thursday and I am excited to see them win more.
Burnett On the Spot
Up next in the quest to stop the Orioles offense is A.J. Burnett. The second of the new pitchers the Yanks aquired over the off season is now on the spot. Wednesday, Chien Ming Wang made his first start since suffering a season ending injury. To make it short, Wang got shelled. The righty couldn’t get people out in the short amount of time he was on the mound. He walked three and struck out none. If Burnett pitches well on Thursday, he may well be the first starting pitcher for the Yankees to record a strikeout. It has been tough on the Yankee pitching so far this season and the offense hasn’t done much to help. They haven’t produced a lot of runs. Wednesday they didn’t score many runs until the end of the game. They need to score them at the beginning of the game. If the pitching is to succeed, the offense needs to give them the run support to give them the edge. So far, the O’s offense has been unstoppable. The Yanks really need to get it going if they want to get ahead of the other powerhouses of the A.L. East, the Rays and Red Sox. The game today is at 1:35 and I am planning on watching if. Hopefully, the Yanks will pull through to get the win and to give them a little bit of a confidence boost. If they win it will give me a little bit a confidence boost because I am as focused on the Yankees games as the team is. I think the Yanks will come around, but the question is when they will come around. Hopefully it is soon.
Why the Yankees?
Why are we Yankees fans? It is a known fact that the Yankees are the most hated franchise in the MLB. We know what we go through. The criticism, the discrimination, the hate. It happens to us constantly yet we deal with it and continue to root for the Yanks. It’s simple. We love the New York Yankees. They consistently do their best to get the best players to give us the best team. We appreciate that. The Yankees are the richest franchise in the bigs and they use that money to get the top players. I mean seriously. The Yankees team is stacked this year. Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, Matsui, Nady, Posada, Cano, Gardner and Rodriguez when he comes back make up the great offense the Yanks have. But that’s not even the best part. Easily the best pitching staff in the bigs, the Yanks have a starting rotation that consists of Sabathia, Wang, Burnett, Pettitte, and Chamberlain who is starting to come around as a starter. The bullpen is consistent and is finished off with one of the greatest closers of all-time… Mariano Rivera. This is why we go through all the stuff we do and continue rooting for the Yanks. They show us how much they appreciate our fan hood by continuing to do what they do best. Spend a lot of money to get the best players. Now you can see that there is a legitimate reason that me and all other Yankees fans continue to root for the Yanks.
Wish I Was There
I wish I was there Thursday as the Yankees worked out for the first time at the new Yankee Stadium. If I was a season ticket holder I most certainly would have been there. Watching the Yankees work out is so much more important than going to school. Well, that’s the way I see it but probably not the way my parents see it.
During batting practice, Derek Jeter smacked his third pitch into the left field seats officially making him the first player to homer at the new Yankee Stadium. It won’t go into the history books but Jeter will always technically be the first person to homer there.
Many of the Yankees players were awed as they walked into the new stadium. There were amazed at how big it is and are just ready to open the season just so they could play there for the real thing. A.J. Burnett said, “You get goosebumps just stretching.” If it were me walking into that stadium, I would probably faint. Or if I didn’t faint, I would most likely feel numb all over my body.
Everyone from the players to the coaches to the fans are really excited to see the Yanks open the season there. I am looking forward to it and I am certainly going to be watching that game on t.v. If you are going to call me and it is during the game, don’t bother because I probably will turn my phone on silent. No distractions. The Yankees are serious business. Alright not that serious but I am really excited and am ready to have a great season as a Yanks fan. I’m sure all the other Yankees fans out there feel the same way I do.
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