Why I'm okay with Francisco Cervelli catching for A.J. Burnett

If there were any doubt that A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada aren't exactly BFFs, it's that tonight's Yankee lineup contains Francisco Cervelli instead of Posada.

I was actually going to suggest this idea today. Given the importance of this game to both Burnett and the Yankees, they might as well pair him with the catcher he has the greater comfort level with. Not to mention the catcher better able to handle wild pitches and throwing runners out. Cervelli isn't great at it, but I trust him more than I do Jorge at this point. If Posada were to catch tonight, we'd see double steals and home steals and all sorts of mayhem off A.J.

Besides, Burnett's ERA is better with Frankie. According to the New York Post, here's how the numbers break down:

During the season, Burnett pitched 186 2/3 innings, and his best results overall were with Cervelli, who caught 129 1/3 of the innings as Burnett posted a 4.66 ERA. Posada caught 38 1/3 innings with Burnett, during which the righty posted a 7.28 ERA. Burnett's other 19 innings were with Chad Moeller, who worked with him to a 5.21 ERA. Moeller is not on the ALCS roster.

Yes, I know Posada is a better hitter than Cervelli. But Posada, along with the rest of his teammates with the exception of Robinson Cano, hasn't exactly been hitting up a storm as of late -- he has just two hits in the first three games. Could Cervelli be any worse?

I know some readers don't like the idea of personal catchers, especially considering Burnett isn't exactly the second coming of Greg Maddux. Well, tonight's game is a must-win. Increasing A.J.'s comfort level is necessary at this point for the good of the team.

I did see that Burnett showed up late to the interview room yesterday because he was buying stuff at the Halloween Store. As one of my friends put it, let's hope he'll be wearing the costume of a great pitcher tonight.

What do you think? Tell us about it.

Just call him Anti-Yankee Bob! Watson imposes outrageous suspension on A.J. Burnett

I'm spitting mad over A.J. Burnett getting suspended for six games, while the real headhunter of Tuesday's game, Vincente Padilla, gets off with only a fine.

Let me get this straight. Padilla has hit 98 batters since 2000, putting him at a faster HBP pace than even Randy Johnson. The Rangers pitcher has repeatedly targeted Mark Teixeira, ever since Tex hit a homer off him. And he hit Teixeira not once but twice Tuesday night. Padilla's actions apparently so disturbed the Rangers front office that there are reports that the Texas team is planning on putting him on waivers.

Yet the newly-mustachioed Burnett, who didn't hit anybody with his up-and-in pitch to Nelson Cruz in defense of his teammate, is the one getting suspended for six games? Gimme a break.

Why should Burnett be suspended for standing up for Teixeira? It's an outrage. It's not like he had violated any sort of umpire's warning - the umps didn't say anything until after his pitch. And he wasn't thrown out of the game, either. His suspension is completely unjustified. What the heck is Bob Watson thinking?

Red Sox fans derisivelly call MLB's Watson "Yankee Bob," for what they perceive as a bias in favor of his old team. I think Watson's real nickname ought to be Anti-Yankee Bob, or maybe Ranger Rob, for this ridiculous decision. But it's typical of Watson - time after time, he's let other teams like the Red Sox do target practice on Yankee players, but the moment a Yankee retaliates, the way Joba Chamberlain did in 2007, it seems to be an automatic suspension.

Speaking of which, I don't want to hear Sox fans gripe about how Josh Beckett got suspended this year even though he didn't hit anybody, and wasn't thrown out of the game either. It was a very different situation. Beckett threw at Bobby Abreu's head because the Angel called time. When Abreu squawked, Beckett stormed off the mound and walked towards him. Much more aggressive than anything Burnett did.

Burnett is appealing this dopey decision. I hope he wins.

What do you think of MLB suspending A.J. Burnett for six games? Leave us a comment!

What's more startling - A.J. Burnett's new mustache or the Yankees being fan-friendly?

While I haven't exactly been thrilled with much of the new Yankee Stadium, from the ticket prices to the atmosphere to the food, there is one new tradition that I'm totally on board with.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear about how Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi, and Brian Bruney greeted fans in the Great Hall before yesterday's game. What a cool thing to do! (Click here to see pix, courtesy of lohud.com.) Looks like fans got to talk with them, get autographs from them, and pose for photos with them as well.

Here's hoping Squawker reader Peggy got to meet at least one of them - it was her birthday yesterday, after all! Too bad last night's game, which Peggy attended, was so putrid!

The Yanks are planning on doing this type of meet-and-greet once each homestand. What a great new tradition for the Great Hall!

And that's not all. CC Sabathia and Phil Coke gave Bronx kids haircuts yesterday, at Jordan's Barber Shop. (Click here to see the pix.) Those kids must have been thrilled to meet the pitchers.

Speaking of hair, A.J. Burnett started debuting his new look this week - he's growing a mustache! The new blog Big League Screw (no, that's not a typo - it's a different blog from our friends at Yahoo's Big League Stew) noticed a shocking development - A. J. Burnett is growing a mustache! (Click here to see his new look.)

What's more startling - A.J. Burnett's new mustache or the Yankees being fan-friendly?

You're on the Mark! Teixeira gets revenge against Texas

That was an exciting game last night, yes? The two best teams in the American League facing off, and the Yanks are now on top with the best record in the AL, after winning 16 of their last 20 games.

Who would have thought that Yankees-Rangers would have a new version of the infamous Jose Mesa-Omar Vizquel feud? Former teammates Mark Teixeira and Vicente Padilla have some bad blood between them, as evidenced by last night's game.

Padilla hit Tex - twice - and Teixeira was openly irate after the second time. He got his revenge sliding hard into Rangers' shortstop Elvis Andrus to break up a double play, an event Jorge Posada said in the postgame was the turning point of the game.

Dallas Morning News sportswriter Jeff Wilson called that 7-run fourth inning "the biggest of the year against the Rangers." And it was a pivotal inning for the Yanks, too, and not just because of the score. It showed that this team is showing a lot more fire and aggressiveness than we've seen from them in a long time.

When Mark Teixeira (!) is doing a hard slide into second, and screaming his head off in the dugout after Hideki Matsui's homer, that's a different kind of team. And when a Yankee pitcher - A.J. Burnett - is throwing up and in to Nelson Cruz in the next inning (Cruz was a good target because he hit a three-run homer off Burnett earlier in the game), that's a different kind of team as well.

Not to mention Teixeira's postgame comments. Instead of some vanilla denial, the first baseman was very pointed on his thoughts about Padilla:

“I hit home runs in my first two at-bats against him, the third time I got hit. Every time I’ve faced him since there’ve been balls near my head or my body,” Teixeira said. “He’s been doing this his whole career; it’s not the right way to play the game. If you can’t get a guy out, don’t pitch to him. Put down the four fingers and walk him.”

Oh, snap!

Heck, even Padilla's own catcher seemed to approve of what Tex did. Newsday's Ken Davidoff wrote about Jarrod Saltalamacchia's postgame comments:

"I can't speak for Teixeira," Saltalamacchia said. "But if he did it on purpose, then Teixeira had every right to be mad. Burnett had every right to do what he did."

I would love to know what current Texas Ranger Omar Vizquel thinks, given that he was in Teixeira's shoes in his own feud with Jose Mesa.

Incidentally, Padilla has hit 98 batsmen in his career. Very interesting.

A few other thoughts on the game:

* Other than that Nelson Cruz homer, Burnett didn't pitch badly. He also got eight strikeouts in the game. And, most importantly, he's stayed healthy. (Of course, now that I said that, I've probably jinxed him!)

* While it would have been intriguing to see how Josh Hamilton would hit in the new Yankee Stadium, after he put on a show last season in the Home Run Derby at the old ballpark, it's probably good for the Yanks' chances this series that Hamilton just went on the DL with an abdominal strain.

* Two other items of note - Derek Jeter scored his 1500th run, and the Yanks' errorless streak is over at 18 games, due to an error by Posada.

* Still wondering why all the Yankees pronounce Teixeira's name as TEX-sharea - Posada did it in the postgame. What's the story on that?

What did you think of last night's game? Leave us a comment!

Ladies and gentlemen, your first-place New York Yankees!

Our long national nightmare is over. The Yankees are finally back in first place, where they belong. Unfortunately, they have to share that spot - for this morning, at least - with the Boston Red Sox. Grrrrrr.

Meanwhile, the Mets also moved into first place last night, a spot they don't have to share with anyone. Squawker Jon rather gleefully pointed this out to me on the phone last night. My reaction? It was Zambranoesque!

As for the Yankee game itself, I didn't get to follow some of it - my radio's batteries ran out of juice when I was at the gym, so I missed the middle innings. After the game, I did get to see the clip of Kevin Cash going out to the mound to settle down A.J. Burnett - and not saying anything. The look on Burnett's face was classic!

Joe Girardi called Burnett's victory "gritty." When Kim Jones asked him about it, A.J. responded, "You'll have to explain that word to me first." I was hoping Kim was going to say that gritty was like Scottie Brosius or something!

And is it just me, or does Burnett look like Harrison Ford?

Besides Burnett's victory, other good signs included Hideki Matsui's two homers, Mark Teixeira's 12th homer this month, and Chien-Ming Wang's excellent two innings. Wang's ERA is down to 20.45. Hooray!

I've been avoiding talking about this, as I don't want to jinx it, but the Yanks have now had 14 consecutive games without an error. Of course, now that I've mentioned it, expect an error tomorrow night.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Yankees may have lost, but at least Johan Santana gave Kevin Youkilis the what-for

Yes, Squawker Jon, I know my Yankees didn't hold up their share of the Yankees-Mets alliance this weekend, and your team did. Sorry about that. But give me this - I had more faith in your Mets than you did. I predicted that your team would win last night, and thought they had a 50/50 chance to win the series. You, on the other hand, figured the Sox would sweep the Mets!

Too bad my Yankees prediction - that they would continue their winning streak Friday - didn't come true. And I kind of figured that early in last night - make that very early in last night. After Jimmy ("The Team to Beat") Rollins hit a homer off A.J. Burnett's very first pitch of the night, I didn't expect the evening to end well.

I do like Rollins an awful lot, though. In addition to his skills as a ballplayer, he's got a great personality, he's not afraid to speak his mind, and he loves to make predictions:

Rollins, who hit his 29th leadoff homer, envisioned leading off on Thursday.

"I kind of said it would nice to do, first time at Yankee Stadium, my first swing, you know, be a home run. I prayed on it. Prayers get answered," he said.

Unfortunately, his prediction, unlike mine, actually came true!

Did notice how Burnett hit Chase Utley and the homer, and then Brett Myers hit Derek Jeter. Aside from all the fans wearing Phillies red in the Stadium seats, what struck me was how intense the game was, even with two teams that don't have any sort of rivalry.

And it's a funny thing - it's not so enjoyable to see all those home runs when it's the other team hitting them! Everybody talks about right field being a homer haven, but what disturbs me more is how many balls get hit to center. How many balls got hit into the black in the old ballpark - maybe 25 in 30+ years? And how many got hit in the area in front of that? Not many. Seems like a lot this year.

Hmmm, maybe the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar is the problem. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head, if it turns out that building that monstrosity is the cause of all the homers?

Anyhow, it was a rough night - when Chien-Ming Wang only giving up six hits and two runs in three innings is considered progess, that's not a good thing. And I expect a loss today, because it's a pitcher - J.A. Happ - that the Yanks have never seen.

At least there was one great highlight of the night that literally had me cheering. Too bad it came in the Mets-Red Sox game. When Kevin Youkilis got hit by one of Johan Santana's pitches - it looked like an accident to me - Youk did his usual yippy "Don't you know I am" thing. Then Santana looked like he told Youkilis to go drink a nice steaming cup of "Shut the bleep up"! Good stuff. I've watched the clip three times already!

What did you think of last night's games? Leave us a comment!

Whipped cream, wrestling belts, and tattoos: How this is a new Yankee crew

Have the Yankees turned a corner? Unlike a few weeks ago, when Mark Teixeira observed that the Yanks found a new way to lose each night, they seem to be finding a new hero to win each game. Sunday's star was Johnny Damon. But honorable mention should go to Mark Teixeira's terrific play earlier in the game to keep the Twins from scoring. Not to mention A.J. Burnett keeping them in the game - and supplying the whipped cream pies.

It was a funny game - the crowd seemed so pumped up in the ninth, then Joe Mauer nailing Brett Gardner on that terrific play at home plate seemed to take the air out of the Stadium. (Speaking of which, Squawker Jon and I were talking on the phone during the play. He noticed that Mauer faked out Gardner before the Yankee announcers did!)

Normally, you would think that this would be the end of the Yankees chances. And it still seemed eerily quiet the next inning, when the Yanks were at-bat. Until Damon hit his homer, that is. Liked how he threw his helmet in the air, and Melky Cabrera caught it!

It's an interesting dynamic this season, especially now that the team is winning. I like the new guys an awful lot, especially A.J. Burnett. What a change of pace he is. He's not only got his own personality as noticeable as all his tattoos, but he's not afraid to show his style - or the ink! Any guy who talks about once wearing nipple rings, as he did in Sunday's New York Post, is not your typical Yankee!

Ken Davidoff of Newsday noticed the clubhouse having a different tone this season, and wrote this:

...in a clubhouse that has been so stuffy in recent years, with Derek Jeter's dislike of Alex Rodriguez serving as a defining characteristic, it's refreshing to see non-judgmental, accomplished veterans Burnett and CC Sabathia come here and join Damon as guys who are their own men. Who act respectful of Captain Jeter but are not beholden to him.

Mariano Rivera, of all people, was the one to tell Burnett to get the whipped cream ready for the walkoff win. That's a good sign. I think this team could use some fun for a change. I like the pies, and the WWE championship belt going to the star of the game.

Every year, I think it's going to be the year that this clubhouse loosens up a little. But this year, I think it might actually be the one, because of two things - the quirky characters are starting to outnumber the buttoned-down types, and two of the quirky characters are also pitchers the Yanks are paying $240+ million to.

On the other hand, Jeter still is, shall we say, not quirky in postgame interviews. Three walkoff wins in a row, and he still spoke in his Charlie Brown's teacher monotone after Sunday's game. Good grief. And Squawker Jon thinks that the whipped cream pie fun will end for good if the captain ever gets pied!

But still, it was a really great weekend. But which was the best game of the three? After initially thinking Saturday was better than Friday, because who would expect two walkoff wins in a row, let alone a walkoff homer hit by Prodigal Yankee A-Rod, I have to say Friday's was the top.

And it wins not just for the dramatic ninth inning, capped by Melky Cabrera's two-run single, or Brett Gardner's inside-the-park homer, or even for Squawker Jon and I being at the game, but for this story: Gardner went to visit children with life-threatening illnesses in the hospital on Friday, as part of an event for Project Sunshine, a charity that helps kids with medical issues. A little girl in the hospital gave him a Project Sunshine bracelet to wear, saying that if he did, he'd hit a homer. And not only did Gardner get a homer, but the child got the heart transplant she was waiting for the next day. Is that heartwarming or what?

What was your favorite game this weekend? Leave us a comment!