The Pie Guy Cometh

I know that it's easy to say this today, but I have been a fan of A. J. Burnett from the moment he first unveiled his signature "Pie" move. Don't get me wrong "Pieing" has been around longer than the Designated Hitter, but Burnett brought it to the Yankees. Burnett's attitude has been completely refreshing.

Coming to the Yankees as a high priced free agent is often a death knell for a players productivity. Dave Winfield was The Compiler long before A-Rod, Ed Whitson, The Count, Rickey Henderson, Danny Tartabull, Randy Johnson, Jason Giambi are just a few on the long list of players that found NYC too big for their games. Face it Steve Sax and the scrappy Chuck Knoblauch both got such a bad case of the yips that they couldn't make the throw from second. It's hard to play in New York.

But this year seems to be different. From the jump C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A. J. Burnett have come to play. None of them look like the stage is too big for them. Even during Teixeira's hitting slump leading upto the World Series, he looked like he was in control of his game and his emotions, and anchors the infield as well as anyone since Donnie Baseball. Sabathia has been the leader of the rotation throughout the regular season and play-offs and has proven the "experts" wrong on three days rest. Even in the game 1 loss C. C. only really made two bad pitches. [editor's note with Morgan Freeman voice over- C.C. Sabthia doesn't play for the Mets and he isn't Sid Fernandez but if you squint your eyes and the light is juuusst right...] As great as those guys have been the person who stands out to me is Burnett.

A. J. comes across as an A.J.. He has treated his first season in Gotham like a 18 year old senior playing for the local high school. Monkeying around in the bullpen, cracking jokes on the bench, having his kids answer questions during a press conference, and of course the Pies. Burnett seems to be having more fun playing baseball than anyone I can remember... that didn't get kicked out the game for betting. Tell me that you didn't do a double take the first time you saw A.J. pie that no-name rookie back in June. And it wasn't because you hadn't seen that act before, it's because you hadn't seen that act on the Yankees. Afterall this is the same organization that forced Johnny Damon to cut his trademark locks.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the Yankees led the league in walk-off wins this year. I know what you're saying, "Well they have the most talent off course they have the most walk-off wins." But they ALWAYS have the most talent, and they NEVER lead the league in comebacks. In the last one hundred years there have only been about twelve seasons where you couldn't make the argument that the Yankees had the most talent in the league. Most of the time that talent has their delicate collective psyche tied in such a knot that they fire easy ground outs into the Mezzanine.

This year is different before the Series even A-Rod seemed relaxed.[editor's note2.0- A-Rod has six K's in 8 at-bats. I'm not saying that I think he is going to face plant the rest of the way, but I'm not buying tickets behind firstbase anytime soon either. A-Rod's psyche makes Knoblauch's look like Dimaggio's.] I picked the Yankees in seven and I see no reason to change that prediction. Tell me you can't wait to see Burnett pie Jeter in the face after the Yankee Captain wins it with a walk-off double in the tenth.