New York Yankees’ Joe Girardi content with performances by A. J. Burnett and Rafael Soriano
After maintaining his composure against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, Allan James Burnett did all he was asked to do; to pick up his first win in the new season of the Major League Baseball circuit. Similarly, Rafael Soriano was called in from the bullpen
to pitch well in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ games. Unfortunately, that did not go well on Tuesday as the veteran allowed four runs.
Manager Joe Girardi had two things to look for in Thursday’s encounter between his New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. The first thing was consistency and the other was a rebound. Much to his delight, bought points were made visible during the fixture
as Burnett picked up an all important, second win and Soriano finished his eighth inning relief role with just a hit conceded.
For the skipper, this meant good news. Burnett was able to deliver his second win of the campaign by mixing his fastballs and curveballs up with changeups. The master pitcher did the right thing by getting the Twins catcher, Joe Mauer, struck out. Girardi
had much to talk about the starter’s change up deliveries.
"It gave them something else to look at and that's the importance of having another pitch," Girardi said. "You can't maybe sit on one pitch. Now you've got something slow going away from you as opposed to coming in to you against those left-handed hitters,
and I thought that made a difference."
On the other hand, Girardi had a lot to say about Soriano as well. When he was asked what was different about the veteran’s throws in this game, he gave a calculated answer.
"Just his command. The other day we saw something that I didn't see from him last year. For whatever reason, he walked three people. But his command was what we were accustomed to seeing, and I think that was the difference."
In his previous outing, the relief pitcher conceded four runs off a hit. He struck out one player and walked three in the game. In just 2/3 an inning, Soriano availed earning runs average of 13.50. Fortunately, that figure has descended to 9.82, after an
eventless fourth game in the campaign.
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