Burnett falters, Yanks still take series

A 9-3 setback to the hated Red Sox spoiled what could have been a three-game sweep at Fenway on Mother’s Day (which would have been the Yanks’ first sweep in Beantown since 2001). Oh well, the Yanks still own a 4-2 lead in the season series (with all the game played at Fenway, mind you) and outscored them 27-15 over the weekend. Keep in mind, at this point last season the Yanks were 0-6 against the Sawx and that campaign played out pretty well. Plus, the team is sitting pretty at 21-9 and a half-game out of first in the AL East.

AJ was terrible — falling to 0-3 with a 12.68 ERA in five starts as a Yankee at Fenway — giving up nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits with four strikeouts to three walks in 4 1/3 innings of work. Prior to signing with the Yanks, AJ had been 5-0 with a 2.56 ERA against the BoSox. As A Blue Jay at Fenway he had allowed only one earned run in 22 2/3 innings of work (.040 ERA). However, they still took the series 2-1.

"I don’t want to take anything away from these guys, but I think I would have got pounded whoever I faced tonight. I threw some balls in some good spots in good hitter’s counts and especially against this team, you can’t do that."

You can’t put the loss solely on AJ, though, as the hitters weren’t hitting and Lester was on. The Yanks mustered just seven hits (two solo shots), went 1-for-4 with RISP and left six men on base. You can’t win if you don’t hit. One of those solo shots was A-Rod’s 586th career home run, which pulled him even with Frank Robinson for seventh place on the all-time list. Swish Dog accounted for the other solo jaunt and now has six hits, three home runs, eight RBI and scored five times in the last four games.

It wasn’t all bad for the Good Guys, as Romulo Sanchez sacked up and tossed 3 2/3 innings of one-hit, mop-up relief. His efforts saved the bullpen in a huge way, as the ‘pen will be greatly needed Monday for Mitre’s (who will be on a strict pitch limit in his first start since last year) start and Vazquez’ (who hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning all season) outing on Tuesday. Dirty Sanchez’ efforts cannot be stated enough. RAB takes a look at the Yanks’ long-relief options as the Bombers head to Detroit to face Johnny Damon.

On an equally depressing note, check out these pics of what once was Yankee Stadium. Ugh.

Next up: the Yanks visit D-Town for a four-game set against Johnny Damon and the Tigers. LET’S GO YANKS!!!!!