Saturday, August 28, 2010

"Whatever," he says.

"But even if Girardi pulls Burnett from the rotation, he has limited options. He could give a start to Javier Vazquez, who is battling his own problems. Or he could give the job to long reliever Sergio Mitre.

Burnett likened his struggles to 'Groundhog Day.'

'Joe makes the decisions around here, so whatever,' Burnett said. 'But I'm looking forward to going out there in the next five days and making my start, and turn this thing around. Better late than never.' "

I am not sure I've ever seen a professional athlete less dedicated to the craft.

He doesn't field well.

He forgets to back up home plate.

He doesn't hold runners on.

He doesn't seem to scout the opponents.

He leads the league, for sure, in the "Burnett Index": Walks + Hit-By-Pitch + Wild Pitches.

Every time he gets two strikes on a batter, everyone in the stadium knows the next pitch is going to be a 45-foot slider that is 5 feet outside.

Dude, Little Leaguers have more control than that.

Yesterday, a run scored on a walk, a wild pitch, a ground out, and a wild pitch. Burnett sort of jogged to cover the plate as the runner was running home from third base.

Which is sort of a typical way Burnett gives up runs.

Do you think, in the combined careers of Pettitte, Rivera, and Sabathia, that they have ever allowed a single run to score like that?

I mean, does Burnett even practice pitching?

Does he practice throwing a baseball at a catcher's mitt?

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