Thanks in part to a generous strike zone tonight’s starting pitchers A.J. Burnett and Josh Tomlin cruised. They had something to do with it too, and both pitchers were in fine form. The Yanks didn’t get a hit until the seventh inning when Mark Teixeira singled. Robinson Cano followed with a base hit and then Nick Swisher drove them home with a double to the gap in left center.
A 2-0 lead seemed formidable the way Burnett was throwing but he found trouble in the bottom of the inning. He walked Grady Sizemore, who moved to second on a wild pitch but got two outs when Lonnie Chisenhall popped a ball in foul territory. Alex Rodriguez went back for it, Brett Gardner raced in. Neither of them caught it though somebody sure as hell should have made the play. So Chisenhall walked and Burnett fell apart. He gave up an RBI single to Shelley Duncan and then a three-run home run to Austin Kearns. Revenge of the ex-Yanks.
Burnett pitched good enough to lose.
An eighth inning solo homer by Curtis Granderson gave the Yanks hope but Cory Wade served up a two-run shot to Carlos Santana in the bottom of the inning and the fireworks were set to pop in Cleveland.
A hard, unfortunate loss on George’s birthday.
Final Score: Indians 6, Yankees 3.
Nuts.
That pop-up play made me sick. It looked like A-Rod just gave up on that ball. It almost hit him in the chest. No comprende.
Of course, A.J. needs to bounce back, but still...
1) Absolutely. Alex needs to make that play. Or Gardner needs to shout him off. But Burnett needs to come back and get those outs. No excuses.
AJ has too much natural ability to give up on, but he needs to get some kind of sports therapy. He's got too much of that "cult of honor" going on, and not enough of that "confident indifference". Adversity does not roll off his back, and he takes it personally.
Tough pitcher to love, and all of the "casual Yankee fans" in my life can't stand AJ.
CC needs to sit on him until he cries uncle.
AJ is a fine #2-3 starter. His undoing is usually that one bad inning. This has generally been the case with him forever. Problem is, he's making ace money, and has ace expectations. Aces more often than not find a way to get out of that 7th inning jam.
Guys like AJ are 50-50% in those situations. Yesterday"s situation called for heads, and he came up tails.