Major League Baseball

Rivera, Burnett save series vs. Sox

Published Sep. 1, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

Bob Klapisch

You just knew the final moments at Fenway wouldn't allow you to move or even breathe.

Everyone inside the ballpark was on their feet, prisoners of the drama as Mariano Rivera faced crushing odds: The Red Sox had the bases loaded in the ninth with MVP candidate Adrian Gonzalez at the plate.

Rivera was trying to protect the Yankees' 4-2 lead, not to mention keep alive the images of A.J. Burnett's own miracle through the first 5-1/3 innings. The right-hander, whose career in pinstripes had spiraled into a full-blown catastrophe, allowed just two runs, and if you don't think that was a long shot, then you should've seen the "I told you so" glint in the eyes of Joe Girardi, who kept sending Burnett back to the mound long after most managers would've lost faith.

"I just knew A.J. was capable of a game like this," Girardi said, although not even he was ready to guarantee Rivera's success against Gonzalez.

After all, the game's greatest closer had blown a save at Fenway as recently as a month ago — reason enough to squirm while the Sox loaded the bases on walks to Jed Lowrie and Jacoby Ellsbury. Rivera had stitched two outs around the rally, which meant he needed only to finish off Gonzalez to send the Yankees home with their first series victory of the year against Boston.

No wonder the tension was thick enough to inhale. Watching Rivera and Gonzalez was like a struggle between matter and anti-matter. Think of the fury of Gonzalez's bat speed against the genius of Rivera's cutter, and you have a snapshot of what's coming in October.

Rivera ultimately prevailed, thanks to a 1-2 cutter that may or may not have caught the outside corner at the lowest-possible quadrant of the strike zone. Gonzalez thought it was a ball and thought he checked his swing.

"That pitch was down. I should still be hitting," he told reporters. "That's all I have to say."

It was a ghost of a strike three, but enough for the Yankees to start thinking about the evolving calculus in the AL East.

For one, they took two of three against the very Red Sox team that had beaten them nine of the first 11 times this season. It's a significant shift, said Girardi, who added, "Our guys sense that we're starting to play better against (Boston). I do think it's important."

Even more significant is Burnett's resurrection, which is in overdrive now that he proved Girardi right. The manager will reward Burnett by giving him the ball every five days through September; it's a foregone conclusion that Phil Hughes, who pitched poorly (again) Wednesday night, is headed for the bullpen.

But Burnett did more than just hold on to the No. 5 spot in the rotation — he may yet emerge as an October weapon. Crazy, isn't it, that the very pitcher who'd been disfigured by the AL, to the tune of a .415 batting average over his previous four starts, could still be this highly-regarded in his own clubhouse? Burnett, in fact, still hasn't beaten the Red Sox, as Thursday night's victory went to Cory Wade.

Yet, the Yankees believe we're about to see a new, more improved Burnett over the next four weeks. For that, they can thank pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who devised a leaner, more economical delivery to keep Burnett from swinging side to side, unconsciously lowering his arm angle and thus sabotaging the downward tilt on his curveball.

It wasn't necessarily an easy transition for Burnett, who said, "I've been throwing the same way my whole career." But he knew something had to give. Scouts were whispering that Burnett's career would effectively be over unless he found another weapon besides a middle of the plate, 93-mph fastball.

Burnett found it strange not to move his hands as he began his wind-up; he felt stiff and upright beginning his leg-kick, which is what Rothschild prescribed. But the payoff was immediate from the very first curveball that broke straight down instead of its usual lateral signature.

Of the 33 curveballs Burnett threw to the Red Sox, 24 were either called strikes or swung and missed out of the zone. Either way, they went into the books as strikes — a startlingly 73 percent efficiency rate that represented a huge upgrade over the 40 percent ratio that's undercut Burnett this year. He's never had worse control, never been in more bad counts, than he has this season.

Burnett's only mistake Thursday was a two-run homer by Dustin Pedroia. Other than that, it was as if a missing part of his brain had been replaced.

"I was focused on every pitch; I treated this like a playoff game," Burnett said. "The results are something I can build on. I can definitely take this stuff out there every five days now."

Burnett didn't last long in the sixth, unable to maneuver out of a mini-rally that was fueled by a one-out walk to David Ortiz with Pedroia on first. Burnett knew his night was coming to an end as Girardi approached the mound, but there was no hostile body language to discern this time. No arguments, no rage.

Instead, Burnett surrendered the ball to Girardi and departed wordlessly. That was its own miracle, nudged along by Boone Logan's strikeout of Carl Crawford and Jed Lowrie's sinking line drive off Wade. It took a full-sprint, full-extension dive from Curtis Granderson to catch the ball and end the inning. The Yankees didn't need, or want, to be reminded how differently the night would've ended if Granderson's timing hadn't been perfect. It was enough to savor all that was unlikely even 24 hours ago.

"Huge game," Burnett said, referring not just to the Yankees, but to himself, too. File this under: To Be Continued.