This is already the third time A.J. Burnett has stopped a losing streak. He wasn't great (seven walks, three wild pitches, one hit batter), but was good enough.
The Yanks finally hit with RISP, going 3-7 (while Cleveland went 0-6), yet they made Carl Pavano look like Christy Mathewson.
In reality, the Bombers were very lucky to salvage a split. Cleveland outscored the Yankees 40 to 19. We had no business winning two games, but did somehow.
- Is it too early to call the new park a bandbox? According to the YES broadcast, more homers were hit in the first four games of the new Yankee Stadium than in any ballpark in history. Michael Kay paraphrased something Brian Cashman said, to the effect of: "Once the old Stadium is demolished, the jet stream will diminish." It sounds pretty far-fetched - I'm not sure what one has to do with the other, but I hope he's right.
- As far as the 'Park Factor' goes, it's still too early to know. For example, Camden Yards is (at this point) the second best pitcher-friendly ballpark (and we know that ain't true).
- Only two pitchers in (recorded) history have pitched less than four innings and allowed more than seven runs in three straight games: Chien Ming-Wang and Hayden Penn (in 2006). We have six losses on the year - half can be directly attributed to one pitcher...
[the Yanks only had a 15% shot of winning midway through the 7th]
- One more thing: the Yanks benefitted from the first homerun video review of the year (just like A-Rod last year), as a 7th inning Posada homer was upheld after a fan interfered (reminiscent of Jeff Maier).