Results tagged “ajburnett”

• Yankees 3 Phillies 1: The Yankees gave AJ Burnett a lot of money this offseason to pitch in big games and he delivered on Thursday night. Burnett, who would have had a shutout with better defense, allowed only one run over seven innings and struck out nine. Pedro Martinez almost matched him, but he was touched up for two home runs, one by Mark Teixeira that tied the game at 1 and one by Hideki Matsui that put New York up 2-1.

After last night's Game 1 loss to the Phillies, the Yankees are hoping to even up the World Series. Now, manager Joe Girardi is benching Nick Swisher. The AP, which calls him the "slumping outfielder," says Swisher will be replaced by Jerry Hairston Jr. who "is 10 for 27 in his career against Phillies starter Pedro Martinez."

The Yankees have won 102 games and apart from their slow start, dominated the American League. But none of that matters now as Wednesday as they will begin their quest for a championship against either Minnesota or Detroit.

• Yankees 4 Kansas City 3: There’s nothing more for the Yankees to wrap up in the regular season, but this win was a nice gift to the fans. Sure another win is nice, but the way it happened, a comeback off of old “friend” Kyle Farnsworth was a nice release for the locals. After watching Farnsworth implode in big spots as a Yankee it was nice to see him do it against the Yankees. Juan Miranda completed the comeback with a RBI single in the ninth. More importantly, A.J. Burnett pitched well and David Robertson looked good in his first action in three weeks as he tries to make the postseason roster.
• Washington 4 Mets 3: New York jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but they couldn’t close it as they fell to the Nationals. Two errors in the eighth allowed the Nats to break a 3-3 tie and win the game.

• Yankees 3, Angels 2: For all the talk about how the Yankees can't beat the Angels, the Yankees did finish 5-5 against Los Angeles of Anaheim this season. The fifth and final win came with some irregulars -- including Jerry Hairston Jr., Shelley Duncan and Jose Molina -- in the lineup. It also included Ian Kennedy, back from an aneurysm, wriggling out of an eighth-inning jam. A.J. Burnett pitched 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball for the win. Robinson Cano had a critical two-run single. Melky Cabrera followed that up with an RBI double. Mariano Rivera got the save. The Yankees should have a chance to clinch the American League East this weekend when second-place Boston comes to town.

President Obama was on this morning, sitting down with David Gregory. The topics were what you'd expect: the extreme tone that the health care debate has taken on, how it's not about race, who he's predicting to win the World Series, if there's a deadline on Afghanistan, etc. Wait wait, was the president once again lured into being a chatty Cathy on plebian topics one again, just days after he called Kanye West " a jackass"?

If the Curse of the Bambino was bestowed upon the Yankees in 1918 leading to 86 years of dominance over the Boston Red Sox, 2009 may just end up being the year the team discovered "The Magical Cream Pie" courtesy of off-season acquisition AJ Burnett. Last night Burnett dished out his 14th cream pie of the season, an honor that has been given during the postgame interview each time a Bomber has won a game for the team with a walk-off hit. Wednesday's recipient was Francisco Cervelli, the team's third-string catcher who found his way into the game after Jorge Posada was suspended for Tuesday night's bench-clearing brawl. After the game, Cervelli said, "I was waiting a long time for the pie. It tasted good...It's a moment everybody wants."

The 2009 Yankees look to be returning to the playoffs in just a couple weeks after last season's first year being left home in over a decade. This year's team has been marked by a level of extroverted charisma and fiery personalities uncharacteristic of the stoic bunch that led the turn of the century dynasty. But last night, late in a game that did not appear to be on its way toward another AJ Burnett pieface moment, some of that adrenaline appeared to turn nasty as Jorge Posada took a cheap shot shove at Blue Jays' pitcher Jesse Carlson and BAM! It was on—bench-clearing brawl, enough of a mess to end with a little blood.

• New York 10 Philadelphia 9: New York jumped out to a 4-0 lead and turned to Mike Pelfrey to make it standup. Pelfrey couldn’t handle that, surrendering eight runs in six innings of work and he left with the Phillies up 8-4. But, the Philadelphia bullpen is a mess and the Mets rallied with three in the eighth and two in the ninth, thanks to a David Wright home run to take the lead. K-Rod shut the door and the Mets and their fans had a reason to celebrate.

• Yankees 4 Tampa Bay 1: The Yankees won a pitcher’s duel in the first game of their doubleheader Monday. C.C. Sabathia went seven-strong, but he did not collect the win because Matt Garza matched him frame for frame. But, the Yankees broke through in the eighth, turning a 1-1 game into a 4-1 win. Robinson Cano hit a sac fly to make it 2-1. Jorge Posada and Eric Hinske both added RBI’s. That’s all Mariano Rivera needed as he pitched for the first time since September 1st and nailed down his 39th save.

• Red Sox 14, Yankees 1: A.J. Burnett didn't have it. If that wasn't clear after the Red Sox scored three runs in the first, it became clear when Alex Gonzalez poked one out over the Green Monster in the second. Kevin Youkilis also went deep -- twice -- as Boston snapped a five-game losing streak against New York, which still leads the American League East by 6 1/2 games. When all was said and done, Burnett allowed nine runs in five innings, striking out six and walking two. Nick Swisher's homer accounted for the lone Yankees run. CC Sabathia and Josh Beckett square off Sunday night in the rubber game.
• Phillies 4, Mets 1: One night after getting to Cole Hamels, the Mets were shut down by J.A. Happ after celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1969 championship team. Alas, no miracle appears in store for these Mets, who wasted five scoreless innings from Tim Redding and blew a 1-0 lead. Six relievers combined to give up four runs. Pedro Martinez returns to Queens to start Sunday afternoon's game.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Turnabout is Fair Play"

At minimum, the Yankees will finish this weekend with a 4-1/2 game lead on the Red Sox. In the process of building that lead this weekend, they have answered the biggest question hanging over them since the last time they played Boston: can the beat a good team?

• Yankees 2, Red Sox 0 (15 innings): A memorable game that saw dominant pitching, poor timely hitting and a two-out, two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez to end the game in the bottom of the 15th. A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett locked in a pitchers' duel but combined to work only half of the innings in this game. In the hits department, Burnett allowed only a leadoff single to Jacoby Ellsbury. He also walked six and struck out six. The Yankees had chances throughout extra innings and would have won in the 14th if not for a lunging catch in right field by J.D. Drew. CC Sabathia and Clay Buchholz continue the series Saturday at 4 p.m. The Yankees now lead the AL East by 4 1/2 games, their largest margin of the season.

• Mets 9 Arizona 6: New York got back to winning thanks to a grand slam from Angel Pagan. Pagan’s shot in the 8th broke open a 5-5 game. The Mets had takes a 4-2 lead in the fourth, but Oliver Perez was shaky again. Perez did a Nuke LaLoosh impression, striking out seven while walking five over five innings and 112 pitches. Despite his wildness, Perez would have earned the win if Bobby Parnell hadn’t given up two runs in the sixth. But, Pagan bailed him out and K-Rod bailed out Brian Stokes in the ninth to record his 24th save.

• Mets 8 Colorado 3: Let’s start on the field and give credit to the Mets who have won three-of-four and found some punch at the plate Monday night. Fernando Tatis hit a grand slam in the eighth to break a 3-3 tie and F-Rod took it from there pitching a 1-2-3 ninth. Unfortunately, the on the field stuff will be overshadowed by the circus created this afternoon. While announcing the firing of Tony Bernazard, Omar Minaya decided to mix it up with Daily News writer, Adam Rubin, seemingly accusing Rubin of writing the original story about Bernazard's conduct to gain a job of his own with the Mets. A few hours later, Minaya apologized for how he made the remarks, but not for the substance of them.

• Yankees 6, Orioles 4: Here are the Yankees' most recent for series: sweep of Twins, swept by Angels, sweep of Tigers, sweep of Orioles. Taking care of Baltimore is the least impressive of those -- well, maybe losing three straight to the Angels is less impressive -- but the Yankees will take it. They're now 20 games over .500 and looking better than they have in several seasons. Alex Rodriguez started the scoring with an RBI single in a four-run fourth. A.J. Burnett pitched seven innings of two-run ball.

Despite being unable to beat the Red Sox this year (0-8 so far against them), the Yankees are only one game behind them. As they head into the All-Star Break, the Yankees are playing their best baseball of the season, something they will need to continue to do if they are going to bring playoff baseball back to the Bronx.

• Phillies 7, Mets 2: That sound the Mets heard is Livan Hernandez's other shoe dropping. A guy with ERAs of 4.83, 4.93 and 6.03 the last three seasons wasn't going to keep his mark at 4.04. After he allowed seven runs in three innings, Hernandez now sports a 4.56 mark. That's what happens when you allow 14 of the 23 batters you face to reach base. The Mets couldn't rally, even against Philadelphia starter Rodrigo Lopez, who hadn't pitched in the big leagues since 2007. Ryan Church went 3-for-4 to continue his hot hitting, but no one else did much. The Mets got their two runs on three doubles in four batters in the seventh inning. The Mets trail the Phillies by two games in the National League East. Florida is also ahead of the Mets.
• Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2: This is the A.J. Burnett the Yankees paid for. Will he stick around? Burnett allowed two runs in seven innings, striking out seven and walking two. Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez each homered. The Yankees are back to a season-high 13 games over .500, but they have Chien-Ming Wang facing Roy Halladay on Saturday. Good luck with that.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Early Strike Dooms Mets"

• Yankees 5 Mets 0: Two games into the Subway Series at Citi Field it appears that the Yankees have no problems hitting in the spacious ballpark. Saturday they hit two more homers, Nick Swisher with a solo shot and Jorge Posada with a three-run bomb. A.J. Burnett took it from there, stifling the depleted Mets’ lineup. Burnett gave up only one hit in seven innings and struck out ten batters. Tim Redding matched him for a while, but ran into trouble in the sixth with Posada striking the big blow. Brian Bruney and David Robertson took it from there, pitching 1-2-3 innings and leaving the Mets with Alex Cora’s single as their only hit of the night.

Yankees 15 Mets 0: Johan Santana had the worst start of his career, giving up nine earned runs and the Yankees pounded their way to a Subway Series win. While the game ended in a blowout, it was the bottom of the second and the top of the third that proved critical. In their half of the second, the Yankees scored four times, all with two outs to jump out to an early lead. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but failed to score when Alex Cora was called out on a bad call, Fernando Martinez struck out and Carlos Beltran hit a liner to short.

• Mets 6, Phillies 5: Who says Citi Field suppresses home runs? Ryan Church, Carlos Beltran and David Wright all went yard as the Mets overcame a shaky start by Johan Santana, who allowed four Philadelphia home runs. Santana, who squandered a 3-0 lead, helped himself with a game-tying double in the sixth, and Alex Cora drove in the go-ahead run. Francisco Rodriguez worked around a Jimmy Rollins single in the ninth to get his 16th save in 16 chances. He then pointed to the sky three times -- once for each out he got? The Mets trail the Phillies by two games in the National League East.

• Yankees 12, Rangers 3: If only A.J. Burnett could face the Rangers every start. He made one-mistake -- a three-run homer to Nelson Cruz -- in seven innings for his second win against Texas in less than a week. Fortunately for Burnett, the Yankees hit two three-run homers (Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada) to light up the scoreboard in their return home. This game was not without its fireworks. Mark Teixeira got hit twice by Vicente Padilla, and Burnett got warned for throwing up and in on Texas' Elvis Andrus.

• Yankees 9, Rangers 2: A.J. Burnett didn't economize when it came to his pitch count, but he did most other things well. He need 118 pitches to go through six scoreless innings, but he picked up his first win since mid-April. Mark Teixeira, Hideki Matsui (twice) and Robinson Cano all homered in the rubber-game win. Burnett struck out seven and walked four. At least he didn't allow any homers, a bugaboo of his in the past. WIth Boston's loss, the Yankees are tied with the Red Sox in first place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Blue Jays.
• Mets 7, Nationals 4: Yet another replay in a Mets game, and another goes the Mets' way. Daniel Murphy's double-turned-home-run broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning and helped make a winner out of Johan Santana. The Mets ace walked six and struck out 11. Four of those walks came in a three-run fourth inning. Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano, J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez got the final nine outs as the Mets swept the Nationals.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Yankees Tie for First"

• Mets 5 Boston 3: Put it in the books, the Mets got back to winning after losing four straight in California. Johan Santana stifled the Red Sox, Bobby Parnell held the lead and Francisco Rodriguez got the save. Five different Mets had RBI's while Gary Sheffield blasted his 3rd homer of the season.
  
  The Mets injury woes also continued, with Carlos Beltran relegated to DH with a sore knee, JJ Putz unavailable with a stiff neck, and Ryan Church who left the game with tightness in his hammy. And of course Jose Reyes sitting out with his injuries.
• Philadelphia 7 Yankees 3: That 10th game just wasn't meant to be. AJ Burnett was lit up for five earned runs and the Yankees' winning streak came to an abrupt halt. Burnett gave up four home runs, including one to Jimmy Rollins on the first pitch of the game.
  
  Chien-Ming Wang, fresh from the DL, relieved Burnett but didn't do much better, allowing 2 runs in 3 innings. BUT, his ERA actually went down to 25.00 from 34.50. Progress!

We're not sure if it's the team's late game heroics or AJ Burnett becoming the Bronx's Cream Pie Bandit, but all of a sudden the Yankees became really fun to watch this weekend. Today's hero was Johnny Damon, hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th to bring the forty-four thousand-plus inside Yankee Stadium to their feet. That marked the third game in a row the team has ended the game with a walk-off hit, the first time the Bombers have had that happen since 1972. But what might be just as exciting is what has happened after all three of the game-winning hits: the hero of the day has been surprised by pitcher AJ Burnett with a shaving whipped cream pie right in the face. When was the last time the Bronx saw such spontaneity and playfulness among the reputation they've built for being a team of business-like professionals throughout the last two decades? Burnett brings the tradition from his days on the Blue Jays and before the season told a YES Network reporter, "I'm gonna mess with them all the time whether they're having a good day or a bad day. I just can't wait to pie somebody."

• Mets 4, Braves 3: Down 3-0 entering the eighth and 3-2 entering the ninth, the Mets didn't give up. Jose Reyes doubled home two in the eighth -- he got thrown out trying to make it a triple -- and then scored the winning run in the tenth. The Mets benefited from a missed call in the ninth that let Carlos Beltran steal third -- he was out -- and then score on a Luis Castillo sacrifice fly. Beltran walked in the winning run in the 10th, capping a rally that started with two out and no one on.

Yankees 7 Angels 4: A.J. Burnett wasn’t good, but he battled though seven innings to give the Yankees a chance to win. And that’s what they did, coming back from a 3-1 deficit, thanks to a home run from Johnny Damon, a huge hit from Derek Jeter and a double by Ramiro Pena. Phil Coke pitched a scoreless eighth and Mariano nailed down the save. The win gets the Yankees two-games over .500, their highest point this season and starts off this difficult homestand on the right note.

• Red Sox 16, Yankees 11: Just a reminder that no lead is safe at Fenway Park. The Yankees led by 6-0 and 10-9 and still lost this one. A.J. Burnett could not hold the early cushion, allowing eight runs in five innings. Ex-Yankees farmhand Mike Lowell also had a big three-run homer. This game went back and forth long after Burnett left. Not even Robinson Cano's two homers were not enough. Boston won for the second straight night, and the Yankees try to avoid the sweep on Sunday night on ESPN. Andy Pettitte will be charged with that task. He'll face Justin Masterson.
• Mets 8, Nationals 2: This game was anticlimactic. A dropped fly ball in the first inning all but sealed Washington's fate. Mike Pelfrey got a solid start under his belt after skipping his turn due to forearm tendinitis, and Carlos Beltran, who went 3-for-5, continued his hot hitting and is now batting .415 on the season. Does beating the lowly 3-13 Nationals count? It certainly did for the Marlins, who lead the National League East with an 11-6 record and are 6-0 against Washington. Oliver Perez takes on top prospect Jordan Zimmerman in Sunday's series finale.