Similar concerns surfaced in Yankee camp on Saturday, when formidable A.J. Burnett got lit up by Boston's bats. Veteran Jorge Posada was penciled into the lineup as catcher instead of Jose Molina. Burnett gave up three first-inning runs, four second-inning runs and two more in the fifth. That's a career-high nine earned runs in five innings of work.
Burnett didn't do a good job of hiding his feelings as the Sox bats repeatedly teed off on his pitches, especially toward the end of his outing. (After David Ortiz took him deep in the fifth, it didn't take a professional lip reader to see him saying, "Why, why, why, why, why would you throw that!?") His lack of discretion over his frustration with the pitch selection led some to believe he blamed his catcher.
But was this a case of the Red Sox catching Burnett at the right time? Or was he just uncomfortable with his catcher?
According to manager Joe Girardi, it's the former, not the latter.
"I don't have a lot of concerns about it," he told ESPN.com of the drama. "We had a bad game and we move forward."
Burnett hasn't really been lights out in August; he's 0-3 in his last five starts, so it does seem a bit unreasonable to blame Posada for his struggles — especially considering the fact that when Burnett faced Boston two weeks ago, he allowed one hit in 7 2/3 innings with Posada behind the plate.
Like Girardi, the players told the media it was a case of Burnett not having his best stuff, not Burnett having issues throwing to Posada.
"We throw what we want to throw; he's there to aid," Burnett said after Saturday's 14-1 loss. "It's definitely not him. I had a good hook today and I feel like I should have used it more."
Burnett has pitched to Molina three times this season; in those starts, he is 1-0 with a 4.08 ERA.
