The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
June 14, 2012
CLEVELAND, OH - JUNE 16: Starting pitcher A.J. Burnett #34 of the Pittsburgh Pirates leaves the game during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on June 16, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. Burnett picked up his 6th win in a row to improve to 7-2 on the season. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE — Outside it was pouring, a cold and sideways rainstorm that wiped out batting practice Tuesday at Camden Yards. Yet the pitchers still needed to throw, so A. J. Burnett dressed at his locker stall in the visitors’ clubhouse and got ready. While he did, he explained what he tells his younger teammates on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“You’re not always going to have your A game, but you’ve got to figure out how to win,” Burnett said. “It doesn’t always work — I’ve been there — but don’t let anybody in the world know you’ve got your C game that day.”
This is the new Burnett, a wise old sage at 35, with collected wisdom as varied and vast as the tableau of tattoos across his body. He pitched a lot of A games over three seasons with the Yankees, and a lot of C games, too.
All of it helped make him who he is now: a steadying presence for a surprising contender, and a possible first-time All-Star with a 6-2 record. Who knew?
“I laugh at it too, sometimes,” Burnett said. “You look at my career, I’ve got a couple of rings, a couple of big games, and everybody thinks ...”
Thinks what, exactly? Burnett stopped in midthought when he saw James McDonald, 27, a fellow starter who had come looking for him. McDonald was soaked and shivering. He had been waiting in the rain for a throwing partner.
With that, Burnett slipped into a black-and-yellow Pirates pullover and grabbed a gray glove with his No. 34 stenciled on it. He razzed McDonald a little, and they headed off into the rain.
“When he first came in, he made everyone feel equal,” McDonald said. “He’s brought this team together and let guys know you can have fun while playing baseball.”
Burnett had the same influence on some younger Yankees teammates, too, notably Ivan Nova. For all his inconsistency on the mound, Burnett was well regarded as a teammate — remember the postgame pies? — and never hid from reporters’ questions.
Those qualities have been accentuated, and seem more widely appreciated, with the Pirates, a team that briefly held first place last July but finished below .500 for the 19th season in a row. The Yankees sent Burnett to Pittsburgh on the eve of spring training this year, acquiring a minor leaguer in return. They also included $13 million to help cover Burnett’s salaries through 2013.
It was an inglorious dumping, but Burnett knew it was coming. He was 34-35 with a 4.79 earned run average for the Yankees, who finally ran out of patience waiting for him to be the dominant force he was for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2008. They made the deal as Burnett was driving to Florida from his Maryland home.
Burnett said he had no regrets about his Yankees years. He made friends and was glad to have the experience of winning a World Series in New York. But the idea of joining the Pirates invigorated him, and the team.
“It was important for our guys to see a guy that’s brought in and it’s not a trading-deadline deal where you have a guy for two months,” Manager Clint Hurdle said. “We brought in a guy for two years. He can go ahead and unpack his bags. He’s going to be around, he can be involved, be engaged.”
Burnett quickly bonded with McDonald, taking him fishing in spring training and helping with the nuances of preparation — how to play catch with a purpose, how to focus in the hour before a start. McDonald is 5-2 with a 2.39 E.R.A.
While Burnett helped McDonald, catcher Rod Barajas, in turn, helped Burnett fit in. Barajas caught Burnett in that 2008 season, when he led the American League in strikeouts before signing with the Yankees.
Burnett had thrived with a personal catcher, Jose Molina, in his first year with the Yankees, and is similarly comfortable with Barajas.
“He knows me better than I know myself,” Burnett said. “I have the confidence right now to throw any pitch that he puts down, in any count.”
The pitch making the biggest difference, Barajas said, is the changeup. According to Fangraphs, Burnett threw it less than 4 percent of the time during his first two seasons in New York. He bumped that up to 10.8 percent last year, roughly the same rate as this season. But now the pitch is more effective.
On Sunday against Kansas City, Burnett took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and lasted into the eighth, earning a standing ovation from the crowd at PNC Park. Barajas said the changeup worked especially well that day. Its improvement has given Burnett another weapon to escape the big innings that often marred his Yankees starts.
“It’s a pitch that we’ll probably use just as much, maybe even more than the curveball,” Barajas said. “He’s definitely evolved. He’s not that same strikeout pitcher — although he can be one — but he’s learned that he can be more effective with his pitches if he locates better and mixes all his pitches.”
Burnett has always been proud of his curveball, a pitch with such a drastic break that it has made him the active leader in wild pitches. He threw 25 last season, the most in the majors in 18 years, but has only 3 as a Pirate.
Burnett said the pitch is behaving better because he is not overthrowing it. He said he was doing a better job, finally, of absorbing the lessons from “The Mental ABCs of Pitching,” by Harvey Dorfman, the definitive self-help guide for pitchers that was given to Burnett by a former Toronto teammate, Roy Halladay.
“I guess I’m in a better frame of mind when I’m on the mound,” Burnett said. “It comes back to what I used to tell you guys, that one-pitch-at-a-time philosophy. Nothing else enters my mind.”
His season pitching lines underscore that point. On May 3 in St. Louis, Burnett became the first pitcher in almost 94 years to allow at least 12 hits and 12 earned runs in fewer than three innings pitched. Yet the Pirates have won all seven of his starts since, with Burnett pitching well every time.
As for the St. Louis debacle, Burnett has no explanation, other than to say it reminded him of his start for the Yankees in Game 5 of the 2009 World Series, when the Phillies rocked him for six runs in two innings. In both games, Burnett said, every pitch seemed to be up and over the middle.
In the World Series, Burnett’s Game 5 dud somewhat obscured his Game 2 gem. Now, the St. Louis start hides how effective he has been. Without it, Burnett’s E.R.A. would be 1.96. With it, his E.R.A. is 3.61. Not that it matters to him.
“If they needed me to go four more innings and get it handed to me, I’d get it handed to me,” Burnett said. “I don’t care. I’m not worried about numbers at this point in my career. I’m worried about helping this team. That’s all that matters.”
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