Major League Baseball

GIVE IT A REST! YANKS NEED TO GIVE BURNETT GAME 4 NOD

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:13 p.m. ET

foxsports

I am going to write this next sentence and hate myself for it in the morning:

A.J. Burnett must start Game 4.

This has nothing to do with championing Burnett. I have very little faith he will pitch well. This is about the rest of the Yankee rotation.

Almost always, in the playoffs, I favor a strategy of using your best pitchers as often as possible, going for the jugular. But at this moment, how strongly could the Yankees feel about doing just that? CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes were terrible on long rest. What makes you feel strongly about them excelling on short rest in Games 4 and 5?

And there is a question about Hughes and Andy Pettitte being able to hold up pitching short once and Sabathia twice, if the ALCS were to go seven games. Sabathia, by far, has thrown the majors' most innings between the regular and postseason over the last four years. It is possible his two unappetizing starts so far in these playoffs are as much about that as long rest.

Hughes is way beyond any previous innings total in his career and has yet to start on three days' rest as a pro. Pettitte is 38, with a groin injury in his recent past.

All of this and the lack of the extra off-day that was present in last year's ALCS have convinced the Yanks to go with Burnett in Game 4, and I agree with that.

Look, there already is a perception that the Yanks trail in this ALCS despite actually being tied because Cliff Lee starts tonight for Texas. In a worstcase scenario that is slowly morphing into foregone conclusion, Lee will overwhelm the Yanks tonight, Burnett will crumble tomorrow and the Yanks will be down 3-1. If that actually transpires, then at least the Yanks would have Sabathia, Hughes and Pettitte on normal rest to try to go on a three-game winning streak to save their season.

And, you know, there is not an actual law that states the Yanks can't beat Lee or win when Burnett starts.

This really comes down to the Yanks trying to win one game with Burnett starting as opposed to hoping to get as many as four strong starts in a row on short rest. And, remember, Burnett is starting against Tommy Hunter, not Walter Johnson. How is this for a concept: If you want to be a champion then figure out how to win a Hunter-Burnett matchup at home.

In many ways this is reminiscent of 1996. As with Pettitte now, that team had an aging lefty with a brittle body in Jimmy Key. David Cone was the veteran ace who already had paid the price for his Sabathia-like heavy workloads by needing aneurysm surgery earlier that season. Pettitte, like Hughes now, was 24 and dealing with the biggest innings total of his life. And in the part of Burnett - untrustworthy and overpaid - was Kenny Rogers.

Though they had no faith in Rogers, those Yanks never went on short rest in the playoffs, starting him in every round. Rogers never made it past the third inning in any of those outings. He finished the postseason with a 14.14 ERA. Yet the Yanks won each of those games. They did it with the kind of clutch offense and deep bullpen the 2010 team possesses. And when the Yanks won that World Series, they overcame not one Lee, but three in Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.

So like when they started Rogers in three Game 4s in 1996, the 2010 Yanks need to be good enough in this Game 4 to overcome Burnett, if necessary. As with Rogers, the Yanks can get Burnett out of the game at the first sign of trouble.

The Yankee pen has pitched nine scoreless innings in this ALCS - the equivalent of one game. Dustin Moseley, Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson all can give at least two innings, meaning Joe Girardi can attack aggressively, even with a traditional set-up man early, to stabilize the game.

Remember, Burnett does not have to win. The Yanks do. Either they can figure out how to navigate this situation without pushing starters they are not sure can handle the short-rest situation or the Yanks do not deserve to repeat as champions.