Big game for Burnett and Yankees

One of these days the weekend here in the Northeast is going to bring with it some good weather. There is nothing more depressing than watching the sun shine through the window of your office at work for five days and then get to Saturday and not be able to leave your house because of the gale force winds threatening to blow your roof to another county.
Maybe that's why I'm not in a good mood this weekend. Maybe it's because of the weather, the long hours at work, or the fact that I have five days of work before the long weekend for Memorial Day comes up. Let's face it, I need a vacation (or that winning powerball ticket, whichever one comes first).
That bad mood has prevented me from truly enjoying the recent good play of the Yanks. I don't know what it is but it just seems like there is still something missing from this club. Do you honestly have confidence in this group to string together a big stretch of good baseball? The bullpen is still shaky at best, the starting rotation seems to be coming around but they always seem to throw a stinker in the middle, and the offense continues to leave a small third world country on base through every game. When is the last time you looked up in the fourth or fifth inning and saw the Yankees with a 4 or 5 run lead?
And maybe I am not being fair to Mr. Joe Girardi, but the man seems to be absolutely intent on trying to clutch defeat from the hands of victory in every game. The fact that he still uses Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez in games that count is grounds for immediate firing, in my opinion. But GI Joe has as good a job security as possible because his owners probably haven't seen a full game of baseball all year long.
But this game today, with Burnett on the mound, will go along way to brightening my blues and making me a believer in the team. First, AJ "pie in the face" Burnett needs a good game. His tough-guy, biker attitude is starting to really get on my nerves when, in each game, you see him fall apart when he isn't dominating the opposition (just like the flaky, step to the beat of his own drum Nick Swisher is rubbing me the wrong way now that he has become a strikeout machine).
Burnett was paid to be at least a number 2 pitcher for this team, and this is the type of game a top-end of the rotation pitcher wins. You don't want to see him out of this game after 6 giving up 4 or 5 runs, walking 5, striking out 7. That's not a line you need.
In addition, the team is facing Kevin Slowey. Have you seen this man's numbers? Forget the 5-1 record. The guy has pitched 40 innings, given up 58 hits, and opponents are batting .337. I mean, Phil Hughes looks like Satchel Paige compared to that disaster of a season. If the Yankees don't have 5 or 6 runs within the first half of the game, there needs to be an investigation. Or, at the very least, we can begin to rethink the "modern-day genius" label people have attached to Kevin Long over the last two years, right?
If I have to watch one more below-average pitcher throw like a superstar against this team, I am turning off the TV, throwing on some Jazz, and beginning the process of picking my favorite MLS soccer team because I am finished with baseball. Kevin Slowey better not be in the sixth inning of this game, that's all I am saying.
And while I am in a bad mood, let me throw a few more bombs at Joe Girardi. Robinson Cano gets the day off today. He gets the day off against Kevin Slowey, a man who has been absolutely KILLED by lefty batters. A guy who is always around the plate. A guy who has given up 18 more hits than innings pitched. Tomorrow (Monday) the Yankees go against lefty Glen Perkins, who doesn't do a tremendous amount right except get lefties out. Why not play him today to try and get him back on track? Why rest him today against a guy he SHOULD be able to handle and then, if needed, rest him against Perkins, the lefty, tomorrow? And why is Cano getting the day off but Swisher, who looks like a poor-man's Mark Whitten up there right now, is in the lineup? He is 1 for his last 19. I would bet my life that, of those 19 at bats, 16 have been strikeouts. He is on track to obliterate Ryan Howard's homerun totals for the season, without any of those pesky homerun or RBI numbers the big Philly firstbaseman puts up each year.
And why isn't Gardner playing today? He needs a rest? Why is this lineup always changing? Why does everyone need a rest? Why is Joe Girardi still managing this team? I swear to God, someone needs to send the man a memo and let him know this isn't a 12 and under soccer team he is coaching where everyone needs to play. Set a freakin lineup and GO WITH IT!!!!! The man is insistent on NOT getting the best out of players. He consistently puts his players in positions where it is more difficult to succeed. Simply put, he's a terrible manager - great guy, terrible manager.
Okay, now that I have that out of my system, let's hope that Burnett steps up and that the Yankee bats don't go asleep against this joke of a pitcher.