AJ = Another Javy?

What the hell is wrong with AJ Burnett? He has really shit the bed recently and is starting to draw the ire of Yankee fans everywhere.

His last five starts look like this:

1. June 4 @ TOR: 6 IP, 6H, 6R, 4BB, 2SO, 3HR. Yanks lose 6-1.
2. June 10 @ BAL: 6 2/3 IP, 8H, 4R, 1BB, 5SO, 1HR. Yanks lose 4-3.
3. June 16 vs. PHI: 3 1/3 IP, 6H, 6R, 4BB, 3SO, 2HR. Yanks lose 6-3.
4. June 21 @ ARI: 4 IP, 9H, 7R, 2BB, 4SO, 3HR. Yanks lose 10-4.
5. June 26 @LAD: 3IP, 6H, 6R, 6BB, 5SO, 0HR. Yanks lose 9-4.

Over those five starts opponents are hitting .357/.455/.724/1.179 against him. Furthermore, if you take out an OK start on May 14 and a couple of solid starts on May 25 and May 30 he really hasn’t been himself over the past 10 appearances. Over that span he is 2-7 with a 7.71 ERA and has made it past the seventh inning just once while opponents are whooping his ass to the tune of .315/.405/.574/.979.

I’m not too concerned because we know AJ can pitch in the postseason, as we saw last year. Plus, if you take out Game 5 of the World Series (when he was going on short rest) his postseason numbers get even better. We all know that AJ has always been a streaky pitcher, so we’ll just have wait it out until he turns the corner. With the rest of the staff pitching like they are it shouldn’t be too tough a task.

What’s really interesting is that AJ’s current struggles are worse than Javy’s early-season woes were but because of his postseason success he won’t have any starts skipped. Is that fair? Probably not, but them’s the breaks in the Bronx.

Oh well, hopefully the return of pitching coach Dave Eiland tomorrow will get AJ back on track for his start on Friday against the Jays.