LT Sports

Sure the Yankees are excited about the performance from CC Sabathia in game 1, but they have homefield advantage, and they are supposed to win that game with their ace on the hill. The key for the Yankees, if they want to have any postseason success, is going to be the way that AJ Burnett pitches, as the Yanks’ number 2 pitcher.

If Burnett comes out with a dud of a game and the Yankees lose, homefield advantage suddenly shifts to the Minnesota Twins. They would have gotten a split of the first 2 games, and that’s all any road team can ask for.

That leaves AJ Burnett in a pressure-filled position. This is his first go-around with New York, and he still has something left to prove to this team. Sabathia showed what he could do in game 1, which gets him off the hook for now, but Burnett is not as fortunate at this point in time.

For Burnett, Friday cannot come soon enough. By having time to think about how much his game 2 start means, Burnett might actually psyche himself out, and he may produce undesired results.

One way that Burnett has tried to assure a comfortable feel for game 2 is by having Jose Molina catching for him. Burnett has done much better with Molina as his catcher, but that means that the Yankees lose the batting of Jorge Posada. Being that they lose Posada’s bat, that might actually put more pressure on Burnett to pitch well. ( I guess you gotta make sacrifices in order to be comfortable, and it seems like Burnett is just fine with that).

Right now, Burnett just wants to get that start out of the way, and help the Yankees move closer to a World Series championship. As long as he is mentally tough enough, and he can block out the pressure, or better yet, use it positively, he should have no problem pitching well and helping the Yankees take game 2 in the Bronx.

Filed under: MLB