Yankees Lose to the Worst Team in Baseball
Written by Travis Pulver, Friday June 11 2010
With the Toronto Blue Jays squeezing out a win against the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees were handed a golden opportunity to close the Rays lead over them to just a single game.
Instead a virtually unknown pitcher named Jake Arrieta outpitched one of the best pitchers in baseball (A.J. Burnett) to defeat the defending World Series champions 4-3 Thursday night and give the Baltimore Orioles their first win against the Yankees in 11 tries.
Arrieta went 6 innings allowing only 4 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 6 and walking 4 in his major league debut. Burnett would last just 2/3 of an inning more, but would give up 8 hits and 4 earned runs, striking out five and walking 1.
To add insult to injury, Yankee 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez had to leave the game in the first inning. Rodriguez later said that he knew something was wrong when he could not make a routine play on Adam Jones’s single.
The Yankees have trailed the Rays for much of the season, largely due to the dominant play of Tampa Bay’s rotation. As a staff, the Rays have a cumulative ERA of 3.22, good for 3rd in the league through 60 games. The Yankees staff ranks 10th with an ERA of 3.84.
The Yankees will continue to look to make up ground on the Rays when they play a 3-game series with the Houston Astros in New York.
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7 comments
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Glad to see I could inspire such debate. That's the great thing about sports- greatness and even whether someone is good is subjective. I can see that there are fans of the game out there that are going to keep me on my toes.
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For the completed decade (2000-2009) Burnett is 11th in strikeouts, not in the top 25 for ERA or wins, Pettitte and Sabathia rank higher than Burnett... I just don't think he is one of the best pitchers on the Yankees, let alone baseball....
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Over the course of his career he comes up among the best in strikeouts, Ks/9 innings, and his cummulative ERA is fairly high up as well. Expand your search and you'll see this. True, his recent years alone would not qualify him as such, but looking at the entire body of work I would still contend that he is among the best.
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One season or a couple does not make a player great. AJ Burnett 2009 14th in strikeouts, 48th in ERA, 2008 3rd in K, 50th in ERA, 2007 21st in K, 29th in ERA, 2006 62nd in K, did not qualify ERA (would be 29), 2005 10th in K, 17th in ERA, 2004 81st in K, did not qualify ERA (would be 24)... in that time he made the top ten for the season in strikeouts twice, never higher than 17th in ERA, one season or a couple does not make a player great....nor one of the best...
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One season or even a couple does not make a player great. Most of the guys you mentioned are young guys having great seasons this year; many of them have been not so stellar over the course of their careers. For the length of time that Burnett has played he is among the active leaders in strikeouts and ERA for the last decade. Had he played on better teams than the Marlins and Blue Jays for most of his career his win total would be up there as well.
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unfortunately, I agree with you Chriso. I wish Burnett was elite, as he should be, but his 'stuff' just doesn't translate consistently. Some days he makes you think he is one of the best, but you cannot give him that title.
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AJ Burnett is one of the best pitchers in baseball? He's 60th in MLB in ERA, behind Pettitte and Hughes on his own team, CC Sabathia is better, and that's just on the Yankees... Jimenez, Halladay,Carpenter, Lester, Buchholz, Wainwright, Garland, Silva, Shields, Verlander, Price.... this is just a start of a list of pitchers that are better than "one of the best".... Burnett is good, nowhere near one of the best...