Nobody To Blame But Himself

Worst Haircut Ever!

I know I am a couple days late on this topic, but I have to weigh in on a few things after Saturday night’s game.  To begin, AJ stunk up Target field.  He was absolutely terrible and took the Yankees right out of the game within the first two innings.  There is no way to defend AJ’s pitching performance in this game, and the Yankees will need to make a big decision after this weekend as to who will remain in the starting rotation.  That’s for another post.

That all being said, I think the media did a terrible job handling this whole debacle between AJ and Girardi.  I watched the game and as I watched Burnett struggle in the 2^nd inning, I was surprised to see Girardi restrain himself long enough before pulling AJ.  Once Girardi got to the mound, we all saw Burnett speak his mind but the media really took it to a new level.  I know it’s the Yankees who have the limelight on them all the time and AJ is the biggest lightning rod on the team besides Arod, but it wasn’t a huge story to begin with.

Girardi and Burnett both said after the game that AJ wasn’t angry with Girardi but rather was angry with the home plate umpire for calling ball four to Joe Mauer.  Burnett thought the pitch was a strike along with Russell Martin who claimed the home plate umpire called that same pitch a strike all night long.  Burnett walked off the mound and cursed.  There was no real indication that AJ was cursing at Girardi and Girardi never got heated about it until after the game with the media.  AJ then went into the clubhouse and Girardi soon followed.  After the game, both AJ and Girardi said they were looking at the video.  There was never any indication the pitcher and manager were fighting with each other and based upon the totality of the situation, there was no reason for AJ to be upset with Girardi.

AJ allowed 2 runs in the first inning and 5 runs in the second inning.  Any pitcher knows there is a strong chance they will be pulled for allowing 7 runs over 2 innings.  Moreover, AJ had pitched a total of 40 pitches in the 2^nd inning when he allowed a walk (his 3^rd) to Mauer.  40 pitches is a dangerous threshold for a pitcher in one inning and AJ knew he would be pulled solely based upon fatigue issues.  This wasn’t a situation where it could go either way and the pitcher was upset for the manager not having confidence in him.  This was a situation that was necessary and if any decision was incorrect by Girardi, it was keeping AJ in the game as long as he did.

It also makes no sense that AJ would be fighting with Girardi as Girardi and Cashman are the biggest supporters of Burnett.  Both Cash and Girardi defend AJ to the media more than any other GM/Manager combo I have ever seen.  They protect AJ and always try to instill confidence in him.

But obviously the media wanted a good story with the way AJ has been playing lately and rather than report one, they created one.  They created the drama and spun the non-story the most dramatic way possible. I get it… it sells papers, but the story was F***ing Bull**** as AJ would say.