AJ Burnett was back to his old habits again tonight, walking and hitting batters. I didn't expect him to repeat his brilliant Game 2 performance, but I thought it gave him enough confidence to put in another good start tonight. Obviously, that was wishful thinking on my part.
Burnett gave up six runs in just over two innings, putting the Yanks in an enormous hole against the red-hot Cliff Lee, who didn't pitch nearly as well as he did in Game 1 of the World Series. But Lee took his team to the 8th inning with a sizeable margin for victory. I was hoping for the same from Burnett, but it wasn't meant to be.
It was the right move to start AJ Burnett on three days rest over the barely used Chad Gaudin. You can't trust a World Series game to a guy who has only pitched one inning in the last three weeks. Joe Girardi shouldn't be criticized for this move. Players need to execute when given opportunities and Burnett didn't do that tonight.
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