Bad AJ ruins opener

The Yanks put up a 10-4 clunker in the opener of their six-game road trip, with AJ looking less than stellar.

The “consistently inconsistent” Burnett went just four innings and gave up seven runs (three homers) on nine hits with four strikeouts to two walks. I’m going to chalk this one up to the jet lag, but I don’t know because he also looked like shit against the Phils last week.

"The frustration’s the point, you know how good I am and how I should be throwing the ball. The past handful of starts I haven’t been giving my team a chance out of the gate. I’m preparing, I’m doing my work in between, I’m just not executing out there in the game…I think earlier in the year I was correcting it, I was able to make a pitch to get out of jams. Whether I’m trying too hard or everything’s speeding up on the two, it comes down to keep the positive thoughts rolling and eventually it’ll turn around."

All of the D-Bags’ runs came with two outs, making the game that much more frustrating.

Girardi on AJ:

"Maybe he’s just not getting comfortable early enough, he got the first two outs (hehe). Then all of a sudden they get five with nobody on…When he’s not able to locate his fastball and he’s not able to go down and away to make hitters uncomfortable, hitters are going to get you."

I guess you have to give the player of the game to Gardner, who went 4-for-4 (all infield singles) with two runs scored.

"We’re not seeing a lot of pitches and we’re not doing a good job of putting together quality at-bats. I was fortunate to get on base a couple of times but I really didn’t hit the ball hard or see a lot of pitches or grind out any long at-bats. We just didn’t get it done."

Here are some stats to make you shit your pants:

• Jeter is now 6 for his last 36.
• A-Rod, always trying to emulate Jeet, is also 6 for his last 36 including an 0-for-11 streak heading into last nights debacle (he went 1-for-4 Monday). Prior to Monday, he was 7-for-42 (.167) with one RBI over his previous 11 games.
• AJ has allowed 23 runs over his last four starts.
• CHoP on pitches 1-25: .296/.324/.493. CHoP on pitches 26-50: .389/.450/.889 (courtesy of Mike Axisa). Maybe he shouldn’t be pitching more than one inning per appearance…

Here’s the good news:

• Swish  Dog set a career high with his third triple of the year last night.
• Swish’s three-bagger was the Yankees’ AL-leading 19th triple of the season.
• Cano slugged his AL-best 100th hit last night. Only Atlanta’s Martin Prado (101) has more.

The Yanks got Old Reliable (Pettitte) going against Dan Haren tonight at 9:40. LET’S GO YANKS!!!!