Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jets, Dolphins and Patriots Playoff Breakdown

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...
8 comments
Read more

Francisco Lindor Remains Red Hot as Mets Top Phillies

 Francisco Lindor remains the hottest player in Queens right now.  The Mets shortstop blasted two more home runs, including a three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth inning, Monday night to help propel the Mets to a 5-4 win over Philadelphia.   Lindor who typically struggles in the month of April is putting together a heck of a month. Monday's two hit effort was the 10th game in the last 11 where Lindor has recorded a hit. In fact in the month of April alone this year, Lindor was hitting at .311 coming into Monday's action.  On the year, Lindor is batting .284 with five homers and 13 RBI.  Lindor's efforts proved to be prophetic, as the Phillies Alec Bohm crushed a three-run bomb off Edwin Diaz in the top of the ninth to cut the Mets lead to a single run. Fortunately for New York, Diaz was able to shut the door with strikeouts of Trea Turner and Bryce Harper.  New York (16-7) has now won five in a row.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Mets Keep Rolling into Phillies Series

 The New York Mets are feeling pretty good about things right now!  The Amazin's swept a four game series from the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, winning 7-4 Sunday afternoon. It was the first time since 1986 that the Amazin's had swept such a series from St. Louis. We all know what happened later that season.    Well, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, because the 2025 version now faces a very stiff challenge. The Mets will face their arch rivals the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday with only two games separating the two teams in the NL East.  The Mets took out Philly in the NLDS last October, so this figures to be a heck of showdown. The Mets begin a month long stretch against teams that are likely postseason contenders like the Phillies, D-Backs, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers.  If the Mets (15-7) are this good, we will know for sure in a month.
Post a Comment
Read more