Burnett post-game audio (and other stuff)
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- June
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Here is A.J. Burnett talking about his performance tonight:
A few stats and such from tonight:
• Phil Hughes is the latest victim of the Yankee Flu.
• Nick Swisher on Burnett: “He was absolutely tremendous. That just goes to show how electrifying he can be. Topping out at 95- 96-miles per hour; a slider that you can’t even see, let alone hit. He was on point tonight. I know he needed that.”
That “slider” is really a curveball. That’s how tight it is.
• Alex Cora was 0 for 21 against Burnett before the hit (“I was due, man,” Cora said. “I’ve been saying that the last five years) and hitless in his previous 21 at-bats this season. Inexplicably, he was hitting leadoff.
• The Yankees have won the season series against the Mets for the first time since 2003.
• The Yankees have held the Mets to one run on 10 hits in the last three games against the kings of Queens.
• The Yankees have scored 33 runs in the last four games and collected 17 extra-base hits.
• The Mets have gone down in order 14 times in 18 innings in the series.
• A-Rod has 11 RBI in the last six games.
Thanks to everybody for reading tonight. Back at it tomorrow.
Shameless plug: I think I’m going to be on WFAN shortly.
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on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 11:52 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
I told you he would be on the Fan
Carl,
I was beginning to think you were a Mets fan that wanted to torture us!
I wouldn’t post on a Yankees blog if I wasn’t a Yankees fan
Good stuff from AJ tonight – likes following the big man, that’s for sure. He wants an other no-hitter badly as he’s embarrassed by his 9 walk effort. I hope he gets it, but it’s amazing how hard it is to do -some of the best pitchers in history haven’t thrown one.
Did I hear wrong? Someone asked AJ why the difference in the last 4 starts and then AJ deflected, talking about Gardy, the starters & relievers pitching well, and the bats?
I thought the person was asking about AJ’s last 4 starts.
Pete is on
Pete on WFAN now.
• Dominant curveball: 48% chase percentage, 63% miss percentage, 19% in-play percentage.
• Finished the job: 21 of 26 pitches were strikes with two strikes in the count (season-high 10 strikeouts).
• No fly zone: Season-low five flyball outs in seven innings of work
AJ doin’ work (from espn.com)
I like the low fly out totals…..ironic that this was a park that AJ could afford to give up some fly balls. In any case, if he keeps that up, he’ll be fine…….
Nice job on WFAN, as usual.
Pete was great. Chatty and sounds like he was in a good mood.
didnt burnett have a 14k game aginst the yankees last year?
Great job on fan Pete some really good questions by Tony and cool new info
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.....id=3336424
Burnett stuck out 13 against the Yanks
struck***
Get some sleep guys
From MLB Rumors-R-Us:
Marc Carig writes that the Rockies had begun combing through the Yankees’ farm system in advance of a potential Huston Street trade back in May.
Hopefully Wanger can get back on track tonight. He is so due for a win. Over a year!
GreenBeret7
Take this for what it is worth which is absolutely nothing!
Some guy called up the fan said he spoke to a friend of his from St Louis they said the Cards are close to getting Holliday.
Just got home and am watching the Post game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Joe do a post game interview in his street clothes.
Last year AJ Burnett was awful the first half of the season. I believe his ERA was over 5.5 for most of the first half of his season.
Then in the second half of the year things clicked and AJ was arguably the best pitcher in the AL. He went on an enormous run. I believe he was 12-2 to finish the season.
This year he got off to a poor start and it was uncertain how long he’d stay in the funk. Would it last the whole first half of the season again?
But as AJ said when he gets on a role forget it.
Tonight was ridiculous. He threw his curve ball fro strikes 62% of the time. If he’s doing that the opposition doesn’t even need to carry a bat to the plate. There’s little doubt they are in danger of being no hit. If AJ gets his curve over for strikes more than 50% of the time the other team isn’t scoring. Over 60%? No chance. He could have been more efficient with his fastball command but that’s just quibbling.
Swisher called AJ’s curveball a slider. And what makes that pitch so ridiculous is that it’s almost unique as far as breaking pitches in the majors.
Tonight AJ’s curve ball had 5.7 inches of downward break and 5.8 inches of horizontal break. That is just simply sick. I don’t know if there is another pitcher in the league who can throw pitches like that consistently.
To put that in context – most pitcher’s curve ball’s have downward break with minimal horizontal break. If you have a curve ball that breaks downwards 5.7 inches that’s a very good pitch. Most pitcher’s sliders break horizontally with a little downward break. 5.8 inches of horizontal break on a slider is very good. For contrast – CC’s slider – which was completely dominant last night had 5.8 inches of horizontal break and only 0.4 inches of vertical break.
What’s crazy about AJ’s stuff is that his curve ball breaks both ways at once.
Most times when pitchers throw something of a mixed breaking pitch it comes out as a “slurve.” Which is a loose curve-slider mix and scouts usually use that term negatively. It’s just not a tight pitch.
AJ’s breaking ball literally combines the dominance of a pitcher’s plus curve and pitcher’s plus slider. It’s crazy.
If he can maintain the kind of consistency he finished last season with from here on out this team will operate at an unbelievable level.
CB: that post was a great read
jennifer
June 28th, 2009 at 12:51 am
GreenBeret7
Take this for what it is worth which is absolutely nothing!
Some guy called up the fan said he spoke to a friend of his from St Louis they said the Cards are close to getting Holliday.
————————————————————
Seems hard to believe, though. They have 5 outfielders now, even if Ludwick is traded. All of them are full time outfielders although one is playing 2nd base. Maybe they will, though. Just seems odd after getting Derosa.
I only skimmed it; so AJ was good?
A curve thrown that hard and breaking in two directions is a reminder of Koufax’ curve ball. Absolutely should be against the laws of physics.
Thanks Rebecca. I’ve been very critical of AJ and that’s in part because of expectations and his talent. I’ve wanted him to get on a roll because I thought he and Posada (health) would be the pivotal player on the team headed into the season (soon it became AJ, Wang and ALex…).
When the yankees were thinking of signing him I did a lot of digging on AJ including examining all of his pitch f/x data so I have a pretty good sense of his stuff. When I started breaking down his games and his stuff my jaw just kind of dropped. It was very helpful as it really explained to me why he could be so utterly dominant.
I honestly don’t know of a pitcher how throws a breaking ball like AJ does.
That’s why his curve ball control is so important – the pitch cannot be hit consistently. The hitters only hope is that it will be a ball or that it’s hung. Otherwise it can’t be hit.
AJ curve – when he has command of it – is in the conversation for the second best pitch in all of baseball. Mo’s cutter is clearly on it’s own level. But AJ’s curve can be on the Santana change up, Halladay cutter level.
“A curve thrown that hard and breaking in two directions is a reminder of Koufax’ curve ball. Absolutely should be against the laws of physics.”
GB7,
That’s about the highest complement you could ever pay a pitcher. Koufax’s curve is one of the top 3 pitches of all time. Arguably the best.
It’s a remarkable comparison. But I’ve been trying to think of another pitcher who throws a breaking pitch like AJ’s and I can’t think of one.
http://kimberlyjones.mlblogs.c.....l#comments
Great blog entry by Kim.
CB
June 28th, 2009 at 1:12 am
“A curve thrown that hard and breaking in two directions is a reminder of Koufax’ curve ball. Absolutely should be against the laws of physics.”
GB7,
That’s about the highest complement you could ever pay a pitcher. Koufax’s curve is one of the top 3 pitches of all time. Arguably the best.
It’s a remarkable comparison. But I’ve been trying to think of another pitcher who throws a breaking pitch like AJ’s and I can’t think of one.
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I’ve seen one other curve that came close and Rizzuto an Hank bauer said that Bob Geller’s curve was just about as nasty as they ever saw. I didn’t see it other than old game replays. Nolan Ryan’s curve was almost as cruel as Burnett’s but didn’t have that two way break.
Correction: Bob Feller’s curve
CB, This is the AJ that we hope for back in December…..Love that arm…..
Props to Melky for his two stellar defensive plays. No other Yankees OFer makes either of them.
“Nolan Ryan’s curve was almost as cruel as Burnett’s but didn’t have that two way break.”
Well you’ve now brought up Koufax and Feller… That says it all.
Ryan’s curve was undoubtedly one of the greatest ever. Unhittable when he was locating. But it was classic 12 to 6 downwards hammer.
It would be great to have Burnett teach that kind of curve to Chamberlain and Hughes, though it has to be a freak of nature type pitch.
It’s a remarkable comparison. But I’ve been trying to think of another pitcher who throws a breaking pitch like AJ’s and I can’t think of one.
——————————————————–
CB-
How about Bert “Be Home” Blyleven?
Pitchers would dream of having a fastball as fast as Ryan’s curve. Singleton said the other night that Ryan’s pitches, like Koufax’ would hiss coming to the plate.
Byleven had a big breaking, hard curve, but not that hard and it usually broke straight down into the dirt.
Whitey Ford had a great curve, too. Like Cone said tonight, he’d never scuff a ball, but, if he got one, he knew what to do with it. Ford and Ellie Howard came up with a mud ball. Howard would spit in the dirt, swipe the ball in it across the seams and make the ball top heavy.
All Hughes really needs is for someone to teach him a changeup. AJ could actually benefit from that as well.
Burnett has a very good changeup, but, for whatever reason is afraid to throw it in big spots, though he threw about 5 of them the other day against the Mets.
“Props to Melky for his two stellar defensive plays. No other Yankees OFer makes either of them.”
1st sentence=correct….2nd sentence=exaggeration
“As we were talking to Robertson, Swisher couldn’t help but interject. “Are you asking him why he threw McCann two backdoor cutters?” asked Swisher, wearing a Cheshire Cat grin. “That’s what I want to know.”"
LMAO
http://kimberlyjones.mlblogs.com/
Burnett is a very good pitcher. I was one of the few who supported signing him. A couple weeks ago, I may have been the only one who didn’t jump off his and the team’s bandwagon. Give credit where credit is due.
I like AJ. Glad we signed him in the offseason.
Great game by Burnett. Memo to Girardi, if someone is sick, send them home. Seriously the whole team is going to catch this flu and they won’t be able to play.
I don’t think Girardi would just send somebody home as they may need that player to pinch hit or be a defensive sub. You just never know what will happen in a given game with injuries or playing in the NL parks with extra inning affairs where you may need to use all your bench to pinch hit and play defense. The flu is something that will pass and hopefully we see Jeter and Damon back in the lineup tomorrow.
Yankee celebrity of the day at the game is Richard Gere.
http://www.filmmagic.com/ItemL.....mp;evntI=0
GreenBeret7
Burnett has a very good changeup, but, for whatever reason is afraid to throw it in big spots, though he threw about 5 of them the other day against the Mets.
__
I have noticed that PitchFx usually shows a changeup, but as you said, he seldom throws it. David Cone, who I think the Yankees should hire in some decision making capacity, has referred to him as a two pitch pitcher who needs to utilize a third pitch for days that he can’t command one of his FB or curve. Someone needs to make it part of his repertoire, whether that means refining it, modifying his grip, or whatever.
Burnett was dominant tonight he is a solid number 2 pitcher. I think Cone is right Burnett needs to use his change more often. Burnett threw a couple of changeups tonight I think one to Sheffield and one to Murphy.
Melky 2nd catch wasn’t that great, he took a bad angle on that catch you could cleary see that on SNY Gary and Keith pointed that out but Melky did a nice job recovering and running it down at the wall.
Whew. Just watched the first 7 innings. AJ pitched pretty good, but I’m thinking that his last two starts were sharper? The last Mets start had the hitters confounded. Tonight, they didn’t show much resistance. That’s what we looked like a week ago.
Great, great defense behind AJ. Alex & Pena(!) were terrific on the infield and Cano had one great highlight, too.
Melky. Wow. The first one was nothing too, too special, but that second one was one of the most impressive catches I’ve seen. He timed his jump to catch the ball perfectly. It was impressive even in slow-mo. I think I’ll start calling Melky “Paniolo” (Hawaiian word for cowboy) because he gets on his horse and gets after it.
And loved the first pitch swinging by Alex, Cano, and Posada. All great swings.
The only thing is I missed Singy or Flash in the booth. Great perspective & retrospective from Leiter & Coney, but they only talked about their favorite subject-pitching, lol.
Anyway, good game all-around.
Hope Chien-Ming can give his dad a nice belated Father’s Day gift tomorrow night.
I won’t believe Burnett’s ‘back’ until he beats some AL East teams. Most pitchers could have destroyed the Mets lineup last night. He’ll continue to be up and down as has been his modus operandi for his career. Talk to some Jays fans as to what his rollercoaster abilities are. With such wicked ’stuff,’ why is he only 13 games over .500 for his career?
Not trying to ruin the good vibe for Yank fans, but be realistic.
Chris Carpenter didn’t destroy that Met team. Playing on those rebuilding Marlins teams had a lot to do with his record. Not to mention he didn’t start “Pitching” Until going to the Blue Jays.
Burnett has pitched pretty well this season against the Rays (twice), LA Angels, Twins, and Texas (twice), so he’ not just churning out quality outings against minor league lineups.
But some folks focus too much on Boston and Boston only so there’s no way you can even reason with people like that.
catchy spready flu in summer? has anyone hinted swine flu?
With Nady out for the season, the Yanks could use another bat off the bench. Is it time to call up Shelley and get rid of Ransom? I’d hate to let go of Pena who’s great as a pinch runner and late-inning defensive replacement. On the other hand, maybe the Yanks want to have 2 extra infielders given A-rod’s rehab restrictions. But that leaves us with a bench of Cody/Pena/Molena-Cervelli/Gardner-Melky. There’s no one particularly frightening in there for a late-inning game-tying situation.
Boston is the only team in front of them and the Yanks haven’t beaten them (yet). Why not make them somewhat of a focus?
Trolls are out early today.
We’ll worry about Boston when we play them. In August.
Today is an interesting game. If the Wanger goes five and gives up three again, I predict a win.
Wait till they come to OUR house AGAIN June 28th, 2009 at 8:50 am
We’ll worry about Boston when we play them. In August.
—————-
Took the words right out of my keyboard.
They don’t play Boston again until August. Lots of games between now and then to focus on.
Keeping focus on today’s opponent is the agenda – not who they play over a month from now.
Right now, we should just try and keep ourselves nestled safely in a playoff spot by the All Star Break and within striking distance of the division. What is striking distance? That’s up to interpretation, but I say four games.
Reality is setting in…
“There have been lots of wins with Posada behind the plate. For all that he has done for the Yankees. it’s interesting to see how quickly people jump off his bandwagon when pitchers hit a bump in the road. That’s what happens when people get sidetracked by statistics, instead of doing something unique — like watching the game.
I will take the hard-hitting, passionate catcher any day as long as he works at his craft, and there is no doubt Posada has worked hard at becoming a good catcher. Last night he worked with Burnett every step of the way.”
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06.....176516.htm
“Just two opposite-field homers were hit in the first 37 games at Citi Field, by Washington’s Nick Johnson (April 24) and Adam Dunn (May 26). The Yankees had three in two games, starting with Alex Rodriguez’s drive in the eighth inning Friday, the first by a right-handed batter.”
We ROCK!
Tonight’s game is telling for CM Wang. Unless he has a real good outing, he gets replaced in the rotation for the final time.
Boston will soon experience some slumping instead of playing over their heads.
The Posada stuff is so fundamentally unfair to him, it’s not funny.
You don’t lose the ability to call games with age.
It just goes to show you what happens when writers check out blogs on off days looking for something to write about. This is how stories like this are created.
The flu bug that is sprinting through the Yankees’ clubhouse took down Johnny Damon yesterday and kept Derek Jeter out of the starting lineup for the second straight game last night.
And it didn’t stop there.
Mark Teixeira said, with a nasal voice, he didn’t feel good after last night’s 5-0 Subway Series victory over the Mets. Chien-Ming Wang, tonight’s scheduled starter, admitted to having a stuffy nose and scratchy throat. Manager Joe Girardi said Phil Hughes was showing symptoms.
According to Girardi, Damon was the ninth player, coach or staff member to get leveled by the germ.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06.....176515.htm
Damn you flu!!
It just goes to show you what happens when writers check out blogs on off days looking for something to write about. This is how stories like this are created.
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That’s exactly what happened. People needed nonsense to talk about on an off day and everything went haywire.
The same thing happened a few weeks back when the media was trying to push the story that Joba could be headed back to the pen after a bad outing and Cashman told Newsday that the story was 100% BS.
Can’t wait to hear what they’re cooking up for tomorrow’s off day.
a day game would have been great today- get it in and get all these patients to bed!
After the game that Joe got thrown of people said they won because Pena made the right moves.
Ask Pena who he would have catching. My guess it would be Posada.
If Joe managed this team the way some here wanted him to they would be fighting Balt. for last place not Bos. for first.
I’ll only be impressed by Burnett if he beats Boston in a meaningful game. His tenure with the Yanks is defined by that meltdown at Fenway that helped kill any chance of winning the division.
He beats a bad Mets team when the Yanks are trailing by a ton in the division…big deal.
Giuseppe Franco -
If they win – there’ll be no unusual story lines tomorrow. If CMW has a tough day, it will be all about Hughes back to the rotation. If they lose, but CMW does well, hmm, I don’t know — but I’m sure they’ll come up with something!
We were out last night, so I wasn’t able to watch the game. The place we were at had the game on the t.v. at the bar, which we could just about see from where we were sitting, and all I know is that it looked like the Yankees were always up to bat, so I figured AJ was doing a pretty good job of getting the Mets out. The other thing I realized is how much I LOVE hdtv. The bar didn’t have it, so when we got up to check out the score, we literally could not tell (and by “we” I mean 3 different people and me) if it was 1-0, 3-0 or 7-0! We figured it out when the out count was “1″ and then we could tell the score number was a “1″ also!
And I’m sure it was the t.v. and not the mojito.
I think the reason Posada is getting heat.He broke the streak of non errors in the game when he returned.
They went on a error binge for a awhile.People were saying the chemistry changed when he returned.
Posada is very much liked and respected,Tyler Kepner needed something to write about,a Jorge was easy,when he btoke the streak.Cerevelli caught and was apart of the win streak.
Gardner should stay in lead off,until he proves other wise,that it’s not productive.
In the game with CC, he had 6 at bats and hit in 5.Jeter easily goes 4-5 at bats,and doesn’t hit as frequently.We know he’s(Jeter) good,but it hits the Yankees need for wins.
brent
What did Gardner do last night?
Don’t use one game to decide how the team should be set up.
I like what Gardner brings to the team but he will never give them what Jeter has.
I agree MaineYankee. Jeter has the better OBP and Gardner’s numbers are inflated by that 5-6 game. I wouldn’t expect Gardner’s OBP to be above .350 by season’s end. Jeter should hit leadoff when he returns.