Roy Halladay vs. CC Sabathia failed to honor the ace vs. ace hopes Tuesday as last year’s World Series participants reunited. But Jamie Moyer and A.J. Burnett played their historic roles superbly last night.
It was craft vs. daft. Moyer, the pitcher with the greatest ratio of least stuff to most savvy, discombobulated the Yankees without topping 81 mph. Burnett, the pitcher with the greatest ratio of most stuff to least savvy, single-handedly revived the reeling Phillies with a combination of inaccuracy, indifference and ineptness that would have made Oliver Perez proud.
Burnett jammed a lot of unappetizing stuff into 3 1/3 innings: four walks, a hit batsman, a wild pitch, two homers, two stolen bases allowed, one failure to chase a ball that bounced off his foot in front of him and six runs to a Phillies team that had managed that many just twice in the previous 25 whole games.
And in what even he said “topped it off,” Burnett failed to cover first base on a grounder to Mark Teixeira with one out in the fourth. Joe Girardi popped from the dugout and — true to his optimist bent — encouraged rather than ridiculed or ranted at Burnett. But the 48,271 in attendance were not following the manager’s cue, giving Burnett the kind of sustained, loud boos that dogged Javier Vazquez in The Bronx earlier this season.
By the end of the Phillies’ 6-3 triumph, you had a great read on why Moyer is a survivor and Burnett a frustration.
Moyer was pitching 24 years to the day of his major league debut, which occurred eight days before Phil Hughes was born. In his previous start, last Friday in Fenway, the oldest pitcher in the majors had the kind of outing — nine runs in one inning — that portended his end. But a 47-year-old is not still pitching in the majors without tenacity.
So there he was last night tickling the corners with low-octane heat, using his cutter to stay off the middle of the plate and the fat of bats. Yes, he gave up two more homers — Nos. 503 and 504 of his career — and only Robin Roberts with 505 has more. But both were solo shots and worth the exchange of 10 outs in the air over eight innings as Moyer effectively figured out how to use the full contours of the 49th different park in which he has pitched.
Can you imagine if you could put Moyer’s brain in Burnett’s head? You would have fewer tattoos, a higher pitching IQ and an ace. Instead, Burnett is what he is: the Lamar Odom of baseball, a player who fails to maximize awesome skills due to a lack of concentration and daily conviction.
His response to why he did not cover first sums up Burnett: “I wish I knew.” He is a kid compared to Moyer, but Burnett is 33, too advanced in his career to be this absent-minded, to be this unable to fix his mechanics when his fastball was as disobeying as it was yesterday. He said Moyer’s ability to rebound from his Fenway debacle “opens eyes in all aspects.”
But at this point, we can assume Burnett is not going to enjoy a late-career mental alteration. Instead, he will be the guy who will swing from wow to ow. He will be the tease who began 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA in his first six starts and the poser who is 2-5 with a 6.41 ERA in his last eight. His 6-5 record and 4.33 ERA reflect him accurately: a mid-rotation starter that under-performs his ability.
It is outings like last night’s that should chill the Yanks and make them wonder — if Burnett loses any of that elite stuff — if at some point his five-year, $82.5 million contract will be as much of an albatross as Perez’s multi-year deal is for the Mets.
Moyer can live at 80 mph, but Burnett probably cannot even subsist at 90. It is the difference between craft and daft. It was the difference in a Phillies win and Yankees loss last night.