You know it's bad when the Yankees have such a slim chance of winning, so early in the game that I have to chop down the font for their name in the chart to 14 point just to fit it in.
It was already late and I was already tired, so when A.J. Burnett gave up three home runs in the first fucking inning after he retired the first two batters he faced and sank the Yanks into a 5-0 hole, I took the out I was given and just went to bed. I'm glad I did, because aside from Nick Swisher's triple in the third and a few more garbage time runs, the Yankees hardly got to Rodrigo "I give up a shitload of home runs and am not a very good pitcher" Lopez.
As I sarcastically implied in the chart above, let's hear it for A.J. Burnett folks! He gave up seven runs in four innings, all of which came with two outs. That was his fourth straight loss and he adds Lopez to the list of Brett Cecil, Jake Arietta (making his rookie debut) and Jamie Moyer (doing whatever the opposite of that would be) to the list of pitchers who have beaten him over the stretch of death.
The offense hasn't provided a whole lot of support for Burnett as he's been struggling, but over these last four games, he's 21 runs in 20 innings, so he's setting the bar pretty damn high for them. Add those three longballs he gave up last night to the tally and that's nine of them over this dismal span - very nearly one every other inning. Yes, the Diamondbacks hit a lot of home runs, especially at home, but Burnett hasn't seemed to be able to keep the ball in the park against anyone lately.
This location chart from Brooks Baseball pretty much sums the way he's been pitching over his past few outings. Lots of stuff way off the plate that no one aside from maybe Vlad Guerrero is ever going to offer at, lots of it right down the middle and not much around the edges of the zone. That's pretty much exactly what you don't want to do as a pitcher.
I'm not sure how you'd find this out, but I'm guessing last night was one of the lowest rated games of the year, if not the very lowest. It was a Monday night tilt that started at 10PM and the game was all but over by 10:30. It takes a dedicated fan (who didn't go to three Phish shows over the weekend) and/or someone who lives west of the Mississippi to hang in there until the bitter end last night.
Hey, at least tonight's game starts a half hour earlier - at 9:40 - and Burnett isn't pitching! Andy Pettitte will be taking on Dan Haren.
Posts
That first inning was a f'ing shit show. I watched a repeat of IASIP on Comedy Central to cheer me up after watching Burnett pitch that first inning.
ReplyDeleteJust awful. A solid pitcher's ump (John Hirschbeck) behind the plate as well.
ReplyDeleteHow was the weekend of shows? Hitting up Jones in August, can't wait!
ReplyDeleteLuckily with that sh*t show of a game last night, was able to get some shut eye after Burnett's slow pitch softball outing.
Last night just flat out sucked.
ReplyDeleteTed - The weekend was pretty awesome. Hartford was a excellent show overall and the SPAC performances each featured one rip-roaring set (first one on Saturday and the second one on Sunday). Not sure if you checked the setlists, but the four Tweezer Reprises in two shows was the sort of fun thing they never did before the most recent reunion.
ReplyDeleteThe police were certainly cracking down in the lots at SPAC so that really killed the scene there but it was still an awesome time. Frequent commenter JGS said that he was going to be at SPAC also so hopefully he checks this thread and weighs in.
As of now I have tickets for the second night at Jones Beach but I'm not sure if I'm gonna go.
Wow - haven't seen Phish for near on to ten years - glad you caught em, even better they gave you a good show.
ReplyDeleteA better show than the one AJ put on last night - unless you're a DBack fan. I'm west of the Mississippi, and I still gave up after the 4th Inning - I missed CHP doing his best to audition for the part of AJB. Looks like he could do it - he gave up 3 runs in one inning - AJ was just a little better - he gave up 5, which, as Derek St Huggins would say, is "two more."
Too bad AJ sucked - looks like the rest of the team quit shortly after he did.
Ahh the four Tweeprise's! Had to be awesome. Still remember the three encore Carini->Halley's->Tweeprise at Nassau 98 where I thought the roof would blow off the old Mozz.
ReplyDeleteChecked all the setlists and heard the same reports that you gave about the shows. Perhaps the police crackdown gave the boys a good reason for the Makisupa! Unfortunately as real life intrudes I can't get to nearly as many shows as I used to, so I save most of the good times for when they come my way here in NY. Hence the patient waiting for Jones. Actually listened to the Cleveland show last night during the AJ debacle, it was the only thing that saved me from wanting to break my television.
As for the Yanks...does anyone have any idea where the hell Eiland is. Not sure if he makes this much of a difference for AJ, but I find it hard to believe that someone like Kay or Kenny "look out" Singleton doesn't know what's going on with him and let on where he is. For him to be out this long, it has to be something real serious so obviously we all hope for the best.