Joe Girardi named A.J. Burnett to start Game 2 Friday night at Yankee Stadium and Andy Pettitte to work Game 3 Sunday on the road.
“We looked at a lot of different things, home and road splits,” Girardi said of the decision. “We looked at match-ups against the teams. It was a combination of a lot of things. We thought that was the best way to do our rotation.”
Burnett was 5-3 with a 3.51 ERA in 16 home games and 8-6 with a 4.59 ERA in 17 games outside The Bronx. Pettitte was 6-4 with a 4.59 ERA in 16 home games and 8-4 with a 3.71 ERA in 16 road tilts.
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Pitchers Brian Bruney, Sergio Mitre and infielder Ramiro Pena were sent to the Yankees’ complex in Tampa to stay ready in case they are needed in the ALCS.
“There are still some decisions we have to make,” said Girardi, who had until 10 a.m. today to send his 25-man roster for the ALDS against the Twins, 6-5 winners in 12 innings over the Tigers, to MLB offices.
Among them was to carry pinch-runner Freddy Guzman or expand the pitching staff to 11 from 10. And Girardi still was contemplating carrying three catchers. They were also deciding if Damaso Marte, as a second lefty reliever, was a better option than right-handed long man Chad Gaudin. Since the Twins have more lefthanded hitters than the Tigers, it leads to the belief the Yanks will take two lefties, Phil Coke and Marte. “That’s one of the things in the mix,” Girardi said of carrying Jorge Posada, Jose Molina and Francisco Cervelli.
“As far as we are concerned, there is probably 23 guys that are fairly secure.” Girardi said the reason for sending Bruney, who finished with three solid outings, to Tampa was to keep him sharp if he is needed in the ALCS.
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When Girardi started thinking about pairing Molina with Burnett, an option was using the switch-hitting Posada as the DH in Game 2, when Burnett starts Friday night. However, Girardi didn’t sound like he was leaning that way yesterday.
“I don’t know who we will match up against but our plans are [Hideki] Matsui is probably going to be our DH most of the time,” Girardi said.