A.J. Burnett wasn’t completely naked on the Yankee Stadium mound yesterday.
The pinstripes ran north and south and the NY cap covered the shaggy moss. The fastball wasn’t what he hoped for, but it showed.
Yet, Burnett faced the Blue Jays without his best pitch, a filthy curveball.
“I didn’t feel good all day. I hit on a few pitches early, I didn’t have the hook but I did the best I could,” said Burnett, who copped a 5-4 victory in front of 42,460.
Burnett working without a curveball is akin to Tiger Woods not being able to putt, Kobe Bryant being kept from driving to the basket and Peyton Manning not having the ability to call audibles.
On most days Burnett would be spanked without his best pitch, because hitters would recognize the lack of depth and the inability to work in the strike zone and sit on the fastball.
“If it’s not working they eliminate it,” Burnett said of the curveball.
Still, Burnett battled for six innings in which he gave up four runs, nine hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned four.
“I try and make it better than it needs to be,” said Burnett, who is 4-1 this April and 9-1 in three Aprils as a Yankee. “It’s good when I’m nice and easy and trusting it.”
If not for last year’s meltdown that started after he finished May with a 6-2 record, Yankees fans could be encouraged that their team has a solid No. 2 behind ace CC Sabathia. That may eventually be the case ,but it’s too early to be sure. And on days when he is a one-pitch pitcher — he refuses to throw change-ups to right-handed hitters — Burnett is vulnerable.
“He’s his own worst enemy,” said catcher Russell Martin, who continued to call for the curveball in situations where Burnett couldn’t get hurt to make sure the Blue Jays at least saw it. “He kept putting his head down when he threw curveballs for balls. I told him to relax and let his ability take over.”
Burnett helped himself by picking Rajai Davis off first in the fifth after No. 9 hitter Mike McCoy led off with a homer that cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-3.
“I know he likes to run,” said Burnett, who initiated the pick-off that caught Davis leaning toward second. “I mixed up my timing. He tried to take off and I guessed right.”
An inning later, after David Cooper’s sacrifice fly cut the lead to 5-4, Burnett fanned Edwin Encarnacion looking for the second out and watched Martin catch Juan Rivera foolishly trying to swipe third for the final out.
That was Burnett’s 82nd and final pitch. Joba Chamberlain required six pitches for three outs in the seventh. Rafael Soriano worked a scoreless eighth and Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs for his ninth save in 11 chances.
As for the lineup that was without Alex Rodriguez (day off), it did just enough. Of the seven hits (six singles and a double), nobody had more than one and five different hitters drove in runs.
“Runs are runs,” Curtis Granderson said of the Yankees going without a homer for only the fourth time this year.
And wins are wins. Even if the No. 2 starter doesn’t have his No. 1 pitch.