BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca
NEW YORK -- The day after he was sent to the mound to clinch the New York Yankees' 27th World Series title, A.J. Burnett was pictured full-length on the back page of the New York Post and the front page of the Daily News.
It all sounds great, right? That would be the dream he had dreamt since he first picked up a baseball in North Little Rock, Ark.
The problem was the headlines, not to mention his decidedly dejected persona in both papers.
"I LET CITY DOWN," screamed one tabloid.
"CRYIN' SHAME," blared the other.
It was all there for the former Toronto Blue Jays right-hander on Monday night in Philadelphia. Coming off a dominant performance in Game 2 he took to the hill in Game 5 with a chance to pitch himself into Yankees lore.
Two-plus innings later however, he was meeting Yankees manager Joe Girardi as he walked towards the pitcher's mound, not bothering even to wait for Girardi to reach the dirt circle or ask him for the ball.
"I've got to take it hard," Burnett would say after the game. "I let 25 guys down. I let a whole city down."
Throughout the game, as the Philadelphia Phillies built their insurmountable lead, the FOX cameras barraged the viewer mercilessly with tight shots of Burnett's anguish. You could see him agonizing over an opportunity lost; knowing the Yankees had paid him $82.5 million over five years precisely to win a game like this one.
Or, if not win, at least lose with his best stuff.
"Well, if we would have pitched today, we probably would have won. That's the bottom line," Girardi said after the game. "A.J. struggled today. He felt good -- he just struggled today.
"He just lacked command tonight, similar to what he did in Anaheim," Girardi said of Game 5 of the ALCS, where Burnett allowed four runs before recording the first out of the opening inning. "But he was able to recover better there. Tonight he just wasn't able to get it going."
Burnett could not disagree.
"Everything was up," he said. "I had no hook (curve ball) tonight. And strike one is huge, no matter who you are. Especially with the lineup they've got, you've got to get ahead. And I didn't do that.
"I couldn't do anything right," Burnett continued. "I couldn't throw strikes. I couldn't locate. In Game 2 I felt like I could put the ball wherever I wanted. Tonight ..."
He paused to rethink the next few words that were going to come out of his mouth.
"Tonight," Burnett said, "I embarrassed myself."
The good news? Burnett threw just 53 pitches.
That means if the Phillies can elongate this series with a win in Game 6 Wednesday, Burnett might get an opportunity for a do-over by pitching a few innings in Game 7.
"Oh man," he said. "I would love that."
