Burnett can’t close out Series
PHILADELPHIA – A.J. Burnett started walking briskly off the mound before manager Joe Girardi even got there. The erratic right-hander already was finished – and he knew it.
With a chance to pitch the New York Yankees to their first World Series championship in nine years, Burnett was a major bust in Game 5 on Monday night. He gave up a three-run homer before retiring a hitter, and was chased with nobody out in the third inning.
After battering Burnett, the Philadelphia Phillies held on for an 8-6 victory that cut their deficit to 3-2 and sent the Series back to New York for Game 6 on Wednesday night.
Opportunity wasted.
Burnett threw seven strong innings in Game 2, beating Pedro Martinez and the power-hitting Phillies, 3-1, at home to tie the Series. It was an encouraging outing under immense pressure, and Burnett’s first win in four postseason starts – all this year.
New York went back to him on three days’ rest in Game 5, which seemed to be a good idea. Burnett entered, 4-0, with a 2.33 ERA in four career starts on short rest, though he hadn’t tried it this season. He said Sunday he felt good physically and was excited about pitching against his buddy from back home in Arkansas, Phillies ace Cliff Lee.
The matchup was one-sided. Burnett never looked comfortable on the mound, taking deep breaths, tucking in his jersey and digging mud out of his spikes. He couldn’t get on top of his fastball and lacked the nasty curve that overpowered Philadelphia last week.
Burnett got ahead of leadoff man Jimmy Rollins 1-2 in the first inning, then gave up a single. Shane Victorino squared to bunt and was hit in the right hand with a 95 mph fastball.
Chase Utley drove the next pitch over the right-field fence for a 3-1 Phillies lead.
In the third, Burnett walked Utley and Ryan Howard. When Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez followed with RBI singles, Burnett was done.
Back in the dugout, his head hung low and his eyes narrowed as he watched his teammates try to fight back.
It was the first time in 14 games this postseason that a Yankees starter failed to last six innings – and the shortest outing by a World Series starter since Houston’s Roger Clemens in 2005 left Game 1 against the White Sox after two innings because of a strained hamstring.
Girardi and the Yankees have learned at least one thing about Burnett during his first year in New York: He’s not a guy you can count on to close out a postseason series.
Burnett also had an opportunity to wrap up the AL Championship Series on the road in Game 5 against Los Angeles, but he yielded four runs in the first. When his teammates rallied to take a seventh-inning lead, he failed to put away the Angels.
And this outing certainly wasn’t what the Yankees were looking for when they signed Burnett to an $82.5 million, five-year contract as a free agent in the offseason.
In perhaps the biggest game of his life, he coughed up his shortest start since going two innings on April 4, 2007, with Toronto at Detroit.
