DEREK Jeter received a standing ovation leading off the bottom of the first, yet another thank-you note for passing Lou Gehrig as the Yankees all-time hit leader the previous evening.
He responded like U2 coming out for an encore: single, stolen base and a run scored — something that felt like a greatest hits compilation.
Then we returned to our regularly scheduled programming, the focus widening from one player’s pursuit of history to the big picture of the season. And A.J. Burnett again brought a disturbing element to that big picture.
More than perhaps any other Yankee, Burnett could undermine a 100-plus win team come the postseason. He is penciled in to start Oct. 9, Game 2 of the Division Series. And Yankees fans already have imagined the nightmare scenario: Justin Verlander outduels CC Sabathia in Game 1 and it is up to Burnett to keep the Yankees from heading to Motown down 0-2 in a best-of-five.
Burnett might just be a version of David Wells or Orlando Hernandez, needing the urgency of October to fully engage a flitting attention span. So you can imagine him dominating with his awesome stuff. But just as easily you could envision him buckling in his first-ever playoff game, and taking the Yankees into the winter with him.
In his first season as a Yankee, Burnett has shown the ability to be unhittable and awful, often in the same game. Look at yesterday, when he permitted those six runs on five hits and a walk in the second inning, and held Baltimore to no runs on two hits and a walk in his other six innings of work.
Burnett has demonstrated an in ability to limit damage. Inter spersed over 34 starts, that is frustrating and also informative, showing why a pitcher with such killer stuff does not win more frequently. In October, being unable to put a bandage on one of those innings can veer your team from the Can yon of Heroes to the offseason.
Why is Burnett so susceptible to such destructive detours? Well, he has a lot of combustible qualities that do much to negate a fastball/curve combo that at times is overwhelming.
He is tied for the most walks in the majors and has unleashed three more wild pitches than anyone else. There have been 21 stolen bases with Burnett pitching, tied for fifth worst in the majors. And he already has allowed a career-worst 24 homers. Put those all together with a wandering focus and you have a guy who pitches below the quality of top-tier stuff.
Andy Pettitte has spent his career as Burnett’s opposite, maximizing very good, but not elite, stuff. How? Well, Pettitte limits damages by keeping his walks and homers down, by using a great pickoff move to dim running games and by being able to induce grounders in double-play situations.
For all of that, and the fact that he leads Burnett in postseason experience 35 starts to none, Pettitte should be put into the slot to start Games 2 and 5 in a Division Series behind Sabathia.
But that would still leave Burnett for Game 3, which Joe Torre always called the most vital of a playoff series. So regardless of where Burnett is slotted, the Yanks need him to rediscover the best of himself after yielding six or more runs in three of his last five starts.
“You do want him to get on a roll,” Joe Girardi said. “It is important for us.”
Part of the answer for Burnett may come from slipping out of denial. In a 7-3 loss to Baltimore, Burnett said he regretted just “one pitch,” a sinker that leaked back over the plate that Brian Roberts crushed for a grand slam. But with the wind blowing in pretty hard, Burnett also yielded a Nolan Reimold homer and three flyouts to the warning track between the second and third innings, and was bailed out of the first by a line-drive double play.
He settled down after that, but by then it was too late. The cheers for Jeter had morphed into boos for Burnett, and the worries for October were unfurled anew.