Burnett Impressive & Rivera holds off Sox as Yanks win

Yankees 4
Red Sox 2

This was a game the Yankees truly needed to win.

With so much to prove to themselves, in a season where their pitching has staff has been abominable, the Yankees got the kind of effort from A.J. Burnett that they had been waiting for all season.

Burnett was brilliant. For the first time in months, he impecable with his control, and never wavered in his confidence. A noticible difference in Burnett's performance was his delivery. Burnett understands that he is no longer a guy who gun rip off 98 mph on the radar gun, and is in the midst of learning how to pitch more creatively.

He did it tonight, mixing and matching his pitches for five and a third innings, giving up five hits and two runs, while striking out four. The only mistake he made was a pitch to Dustin Pedroia, who cracked a two run homer in the fourth inning, but overall it was a big step for Burnett.

Burnett and Phil Hughes have been teetering on the brink of being out of the Yankees rotation. Burnett had a horrid August, and entered Thursday night with an ERA well over five. Another bad outing and he would likely be destined for the bullpen.

If the Yankees are going to go deep this fall, they need Burnett to step it up and put together solid performances like he did tonight. If he does, the Yankees will have a legit 1-2 punch in their rotation come October.

Offensivley, the Yankees did a great job getting to the Red Sox bullpen. After Jon Lester left with 114 pitches in five innings, the Yankees teed off Alfredo Aceves and Daniel Bard. Russell Martin's two run double off Bard gave the Bombers a 3-2 advantage. Eric Chavez, who has been swinging a hot stick, drove in Martin with a sharp single to right to make it 4-2.

Fast forward to the ninth, and Mariano Rivera got into some trouble. With a runner on and two out, Rivera walked Jacoby Ellsbury to keep Boston's hopes alive. Then, Rivera served up a single to Marco Scutaro to load the bases for MLB batting leader Adrian Gonzalez. Rivera bore down and struck Gonzalez looking on a cutter on the outside of the plate to end it, giving the Yankees a huge victory.