More and more, A.J. Burnett is looking like the No. 4 starter in a three-man rotation.Despite public proclamations of faith, his manager refuses to commit to him beyond his next regular-season start, which will also be his last.
And despite rave reviews on the quality of his stuff, it has gotten to the point where the Yankees will no longer even hazard a theory as to why a pitcher as talented as Burnett has so much trouble staying in ballgames, let alone winning them.
Without saying so, it is becoming obvious that the only one who still has any faith in A.J. Burnett is, well, A.J. Burnett. And that may no longer be enough.
But the only thing that's going is Burnett's chance to start in said postseason, especially in the opening best-of-5 series that can so easily trip up a team like the Yankees. Asked point blank if Burnett would be part of the postseason starting rotation, Joe Girardi said, "A.J.'s gonna start for us.''
Pressed to elaborate, Girardi said, "He's got one more start coming, and we've got things to work out.''
Then, the manager began to hide behind the cliches of evasion, ranging from "We've got to get there first'' to "I'm not going to speculate because we're not in yet.''
However, when asked if CC Sabathia was guaranteed a starting spot in the postseason, Girardi said, "I think that's a pretty fair assumption.''
Realistically, despite their recent struggles -- the loss was the Yankees fifth in their last six games, and over their last 50 games are barely over .500 at 26-24 -- the Yankees are headed for the postseason.
The only question left is how far they are going, and when you see pitching of the caliber that Burnett showed Monday night, it makes you think they won't go very far at all.
Anyone with two eyes, a clear head and no vested interest in keeping a $16.5 million pitcher happy for the rest of this season plus three more years can see right now, there is no earthly reason to trust Burnett with something so precious as a start in a series in which three losses means death. And there is plenty of evidence to prove it is less of a gamble to go with three starters in the Division Series -- meaning one pitcher (Sabathia) would pitch on short rest -- than to go with a four-man rotation that includes Burnett.
"I'm not gonna talk about playoffs until we're in,'' Girardi said. "But you got to remember A.J. has pitched a lot of big games for us. He was big in the playoffs for us last year.''
But not Monday night. On a night in which Girardi would have loved to rest his bullpen, he got just a tick more than two innings out of Burnett, whose horrendous line -- 2-1/3 IP, 7 hits, 7 earned runs -- was not even his worst of the year. But when you factor in all that was at stake -- coming at a time when his team is trying to finally put this playoff run to bed and when he himself is trying to re-establish his credentials to be an important part of the post-season pitching staff -- Burnett could hardly have failed any worse.
Burnett attributed his failure to the usual culprits -- poor fastball command, a curve without any bite, pitches leaking out over the plate -- but particularly disturbing was the third inning, when he simply could not seem to get anyone out. Already trailing 2-0 and victimized for a long solo homer by John Buck in the second, Burnett started poorly -- walking Travis Snider to open the frame and plunking Yunel Escobar in the buttocks even before his pitches were being used for batting practice by the Major League's leading home run hitting team.
By then, it was 7-0, and the discouragement that lately has set in on the Yankee offense, as outlined by Alex Rodriguez after the Yankees 10-8 loss to the Red Sox Friday night, began festering again. It didn't help that Marc Rzepczynski, a pitcher the Yankees had previously manhandled, was striking batters out at a record rate, at one point obtaining eight straight outs by strikeout.
"His ball was moving everywhere tonight,'' Mark Teixeira said. "It was like swinging at a ghost.''
The Yankees battled back, getting a two-run homer (No. 24) from Curtis Granderson in the fifth and a three-run bomb to dead center by Teixeira, his 33rd, in the seventh, to make a game of it. But the seven-run deficit proved to be too much to overcome, as had the 10-1 hole the Yankees found themselves in Friday night.
But the starter responsible for that mess, Andy Pettitte, is coming off two months on the disabled list and has an October track record the Yankees know they can can rely upon. Burnett has two seasons of maddening inconsistency leavened only slightly by his excellent performance in Game 2 of last year's World Series (it should also be remembered that Burnett did not make it out of the third inning in Game 5, the game that temporarily gave the Phillies some life).
The Yankees got by with a three-man rotation last October and one of those men was Burnett. But it would seem to be asking too much of the baseball gods to expect them to get that lucky again. Now, Girardi is forced to use Sabathia Tuesday night in yet another attempt to nail down a playoff spot for a team that not long ago seemed destined to win at least 100 games and run away with the division.
Now, they can win no more than 98 and their playoff spot, incredibly, is still in doubt. Nothing has been nailed down yet, and nothing has been lost. Except, possibly, A.J. Burnett's chance to be a part of it.
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