New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi has
decided to start A.J. Burnett on three days' rest for Monday's Game 5 of the
World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The defending World Series-champion Phillies will start lefty Cliff Lee in
Game 5. Philadelphia trails the best-of-five set, 2-1, going into Sunday's
contest, which will have a pitching matchup of CC Sabathia for the Yankees and
Joe Blanton for the Phillies. Sabathia, the Game 1 starter, will also go on
three days' rest.
Burnett picked up the victory in Game 2 when the Yankees beat Pedro Martinez
in a 3-1 final. In that game, Burnett allowed four hits and a run while
walking two and fanning nine over seven innings. He's 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA in
four career starts on three days' rest.
Girardi didn't say who he would start in Game 6, if there is one, but he
didn't rule out bringing back Andy Pettitte on short rest for that game at
Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Pettitte earned the victory in Game 3 Saturday
night, his 17th all-time in the playoffs, which is a major league record.
"Our guys feel good at this time of year. We took it easy on them -- that's
probably a bad way to state it," Girardi said. "We tried to give them some
extra rest in the month of September, and they've had some extra rest during
the playoffs that we thought was very important.
"And as far as on three days' rest, it's not something that you would want to
do a whole lot during the course of the year. CC has done it once this year;
A.J. and Andy have not done it yet this year. A.J. has had a lot of success in
his career going on short rest. CC was outstanding last year on short rest. He
was very good against Anaheim. The key is how they feel. There's a lot of
discussion, and we curb their workload, and the rest has helped, and that's
why we're doing it."
©2009 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
