MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Girardi continued to insist yesterday with an edge in his voice that A.J. Burnett’s vulgar comment leaving the mound Saturday night wasn’t directed at him.
However, when it comes to Burnett’s spot in the Yankees starting rotation, which will be shaved from six to five a week from tonight, Girardi said Burnett’s veteran status and $16.5 million salary mean nothing.
“He needs to pitch better, plain and simple,” Girardi said of the struggling right-hander, who surrendered seven runs in 1 2/3 innings Saturday night in a 9-4 loss to the Twins. “We are in a six-man rotation until after Baltimore. There are no locks. You have to perform. We need to have him bounce back.”
Burnett’s next outing is Friday night against the Orioles at Camden Yards, and he needs to bounce back big because today he ranks as the sixth man in a six-man rotation. The Yankees plan to revert to a five-man rotation after playing five games in four days in Baltimore ending Aug. 29. And it is not out of the question the Yankees acquire a starter before Sept. 1.
In his past nine starts, Burnett is 1-4 with a 7.12 ERA, allowing 61 hits and 25 walks in 49 1/3 innings.
Prior to yesterday’s 3-0 win, Girardi still was annoyed people believed Burnett’s “That’s [bleepin’ bulls–t]” comment as he walked off the mound was directed at the manager. Girardi asked Burnett about the remark during Saturday night’s game, and Burnett told him he was angry about a pitch to Joe Mauer in the second inning being called a ball.
In what sounds like a quote borrowed from Yogi Berra, Girardi said, “If a pitcher says that, it’s out of line. But a) I didn’t hear it, and b) I didn’t think it was directed at me.”
Girardi has protected Burnett, who has a habit of showing his emotions when being lifted from a game. On Aug. 3 in Chicago, Burnett flipped the ball to Girardi leaving the mound and ripped his shirt off in the tunnel after being yanked two outs from qualifying for a victory in a game the Yankees once led 13-1.
“You are responsible for your actions, but I am not going to tell a person how to respond, to hold feelings or not to hold feelings,” Girardi said. “I am not God. My job is to make the players better and to make sure they follow the rules. Something like that happens, he has to answer to that.”
Though Girardi was willing to discuss Burnett’s shaky spot in the rotation, the manager wanted no part of speculating what his ALDS rotation will be beyond the obvious: CC Sabathia will start Game 1.
“I am tired of being asked, it doesn’t make sense,” Girardi said. “I am not worried about that.”
