“This excerpt of Mission 27: A New Boss, a New Ballpark, and One Last Ring for the Yankees’ Core Four, by Mark Feinsand and Bryan Hoch, is presented with permission from Triumph Books. For more information or to order a copy please visit www.triumphbooks.com/mission27.”
It was late afternoon at Fenway Park on August 22, 2009, and the usual catcalls accompanied each of A.J. Burnett’s tosses from the bullpen mound. Jorge Posada’s glove popped while pitching coach Dave Eiland offered occasional nods of approval. This battery had not been the most natural fit, but the memories of their disastrous efforts against the Boston Red Sox in late April and early June seemed to have become a footnote in a successful season.
That lasted all of two outs. A pair of singles placed Burnett into early trouble, and the fearsome David Ortiz waggled his bat at home plate. The index and middle fingers on Posada’s right hand signaled for a curveball, and Burnett tossed a spinner without conviction, listening for the clank of ball against tin as Big Papi pounded a two-run double off the Green Monster.
Another run scored in the first inning, and four more came home in the second, and Burnett knew he would have to eat innings to save the bullpen from getting overtaxed. It was obvious that pitcher and catcher could not get on the same page. By the fifth inning, Burnett’s back was to home plate, watching an Ortiz drive clear the wall toward Lansdowne Street. Burnett spread his arms wide and lambasted himself—clear as day for the TV cameras to capture: “Why? Why would you throw that pitch?”
In that at-bat Posada’s suggestion for a curve was rejected by Burnett, who fired heat. He instantly regretted his choice, and someone brought home a souvenir. The Red Sox stomped the Yankees 14–1, as Burnett allowed a career-high nine runs, and Posada was furious about how many times he had been shaken off. Tossing his chest protector into his locker, Posada hardly minced words, saying, “It’s frustrating when he wants to throw a certain pitch, and I want him to throw another one.”
A decade later Burnett can reconstruct that unsightly start in Boston as if it had taken place last week. “I started against Boston, using a lot of pitches that I don’t normally use,” Burnett said. “And by no means is that Jorge; I’m not saying that. We have the end decision, but I kept getting beat on these pitches I was throwing. This isn’t Jorge Posada. This is one of the best catchers around for decades. I’m trying my hardest to work with him, and everything I throw is just getting whacked. I made some gesture, and he felt like I was showing him up. I didn’t mean to do that because I don’t want to show up my teammate. He followed my career; I’ve never done that. But I think there I did a little bit, maybe by accident. We talked in the clubhouse.”
It was a pivotal moment between a proud “Core Four” member and one of the Yankees’ most celebrated offseason acquisitions, authoring a subplot that neither saw coming. Following a July that saw Burnett go 4–0 with a 2.43 ERA in five starts, he was hit hard on August 1 by the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. That 14–4 massacre marked a third straight loss for the Yankees, as Burnett allowed seven runs on 10 hits, plus a pair of bases-loaded walks to No. 9 hitter Jayson Nix. Since Burnett had been 8–2 with a 2.08 ERA in his previous 11 starts, the unfortunate outing on Chicago’s South Side seemed like an outlier.
Six days later, Burnett paired with Posada to hold the Red Sox to one hit over seven-and-two-thirds scoreless innings, working around six walks to outduel former Florida Marlins teammate Josh Beckett. Quality efforts against the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland A’s followed, preceding the miserable rout in Boston. Burnett acknowledged that he had a good curveball and should have agreed with Posada to use it more, saying at the time, “He calls it fine back there. It’s a matter of me throwing what I want to throw. You don’t throw a pitch unless you’re 100 percent behind it. I’ve had a great run with Jorge. There’s no fingers to point but at me.”
Burnett and Posada had experienced more success than failure to that point, and even during the right-hander’s poor starts, their communication never appeared to be an issue. Posada had caught each of Burnett’s starts during his strong summer run, so there was little reason to believe the Fenway flop would result in anything other than an ugly pitching line and a Yankees loss. Some contention between Burnett and Posada may have been evident—neither player had a particularly strong poker face—but teammates hardly gave it a second thought. “The fact of the matter is that we’re grown men; you put 25 grown men together for six months, I’m surprised there’s not more in sports,” Mark Teixeira said. “I’m surprised there’s not guys that just all-out pound on each other during games. We’re competitive, we all have egos, we all have goals and wishes. Jorge and A.J. weren’t best friends, but they both wanted to win. So when we knew that they might’ve butted heads about pitch-calling or whatever, okay, that happens all the time. I mean, Greg Maddux had a personal catcher his entire career. Did Javy Lopez like it? Probably not, but everyone understood that it was all about winning. It wasn’t a big deal for us.”
Burnett, Posada, and Joe Girardi were peppered with questions about the relationship and whether a change might be in the works. Girardi had fallen victim to a similar scenario in 1996, when Joe Torre installed Jim Leyritz to serve as a personal catcher for Andy Pettitte. That year Pettitte had a 3.49 ERA in 27 starts with Leyritz compared with a 5.32 ERA in 10 starts with Girardi. “Unfortunately, pitchers are sometimes a little mental, and you feel like you and another guy are in sync a little bit better,” Pettitte said. “A lot of times throughout the course of the season when big games are coming up, it’s hard to not go with who you feel is a good combination.”
Girardi insisted that there were no plans to make such an accommodation for Burnett, promising that he would continue to rotate the catching between Posada and Jose Molina. As the inquiries continued to flow, Girardi expressed irritation, barking, “This story has become bigger than it really is.”
Posada was on the back nine of a career that would clear space for his uniform No. 20 in Monument Park, but the catcher had experienced something like this before. Only a few years earlier, Randy Johnson famously snubbed Posada, making it clear that he preferred backup John Flaherty to handle his starts.
Burnett tried to squash the controversy, but Girardi tossed kindling onto the fire when he filled out his lineup against the Texas Rangers on August 27. Molina was behind the plate, though that hardly seemed newsworthy given that it was a day game after a night game. Burnett rebounded from the Fenway fiasco, striking out a dozen over six innings. He allowed two hits, but one was a three-run Ian Kinsler homer that proved to be the game-winner.
Posada returned to catch Burnett on September 1 in Baltimore. The catcher enjoyed one of his best days of the season at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two home runs, three runs scored, and three RBIs against the Orioles, but he and Burnett continued to struggle. Burnett gave up six runs on 11 hits over five-and-one-third innings, taking a no-decision in the Yankees’ 9–6 victory. This wasn’t working. “It wasn’t a bad relationship in the clubhouse; it wasn’t bad anywhere else,” Burnett said. “We felt like we let each other down, to be honest with you. It just never got better.”
