Fenway Continues To Be House Of Horrors For A.J.

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Final123456789RHEN.Y. Yankees000200010371Boston «01512000x9100WP: J. Lester (3-2) LP: A. Burnett (4-1)
It wasn't always this way. Prior to coming to the Yankees, A.J. Burnett was 3-0, with a 0.40 ERA in Fenway. But since the beginning of 2009 he's 0-3, with an ERA of 12.68. His latest Fenway meltdown came yesterday afternoon when he gave up 9 runs (8 earned) on 9 hits over 4.1 innings in a 9-3 Yankees loss. As he would later admit, he didn't have a good feel of his fastball and it cost him.

“I had a good hook tonight, but I didn’t have a good heater,” Burnett said after the game. “I had a good fastball early but after that, everything was up. .... They all went where they weren’t supposed to go.”

By the end of the third, the poor command of that fastball had led to a 6-0 Red Sox lead.

The Yankees would get two back in the top of the fourth on solo homers by Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod's homer was the 586th of his career, tying him for 7th all-time with Frank Robinson.

With the Yankees now down by only four, Burnett had a chance to redeem himself a little if he could just keep the Sox off the board and give the Yanks a chance to come back. But that didn't happen. Burnett gave a run right back in the bottom half of the fourth when he gave up a two-out RBI double to Kevin Youkilis. Boston would add two more in the fifth on a two-run homer by Jeremy Hermida. Hermida was the last batter Burnett faced.

Jon Lester was much better for Boston. The two solo homers would be all the Yanks would score off the Boston lefty, who allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 7 in 7 innings pitched.

The Yankees scored a third run on a Robinson Cano RBI single off Manny Delcarmen in the 8th, but they never got any major rallies going.



View the Original article