So I usually get to blow off a lot of my more angry Yankee steam on my twitter account (@GeorgesGhost) but last night left estimable run-off and I just have to take this blog to expel some of it. I won't even deal with the latest A-Rod tale. He is something of a lightning rod - he is easy to dislike - and he seems none-too-bright and really insecure which under the bright microscope of the New York media is a rather volatile stew-pot. He's just not bright enough to keep things from the papers, or his ego doesn't permit him to do so. Either way, he winds up on the back of the paper these days for his off-field antics than his bashing of baseballs.

But what really got my ire up last in what should have just been a laugher against the Chisox was AJ Burnett. There is all this ongoing conversation about who should be in the rotation: Phil Hughes or Ivan Nova. Both of them are young guys with good stuff and great poise. Whether Hughes has come all the way back from the "dead arm" situation that landed him on the DL or not remains to be seen. Yes, his last start against the woeful hitting Sox was excellent. He was hitting mid-90's with his fastball in the 1st inning and still in the low-90's in the 6th. But that game got shortened and personally I would have like to see what he had in the 7th and/or 8th. But that said, I am looking forward to his next start to see if he can follow that up; you get the sense that he can.

But I never have that sense with AJ Burnett and it's a crying shame and it makes no real sense but he cannot be the Yankee game 2 starter in any series-- let alone a playoff one. Listen: he has great stuff, that can't be denied -- his fastball is in the low to mid 90's, he has one of the nastiest curveballs in the game and can sometimes get some off-speed stuff over the plate, making him harder for a batter to know what's coming and yet? Somehow he just can't put it together. Whether it starts or ends in his brain is beside the point now. The Yanks blamed the last pitching coach, Rothschild was brought in to make matters right and it's still the same old unreliable Burnett. He has fire and the stuff but he continues to get in his own way and the Yanks can no longer afford to have him messing up the rotation. I call for his immediate removal!

And at least while he was in the game last night, trying with all his might to cough up the 10+ run lead the Yanks handed him he distracted me from the blah blah blah that is Micheal Kay. Honestly-- I can't see how anyone can enjoy a game listening to him. He harps on stats and he repeats himself and he tries to prove his points even when they're wrong-- and he's wrong quite a bit. He takes me out of the game and he bugs the shit out of me. I am almost to the point where I may consider watching the opposing team's broadcast (unless it's against the Bosox because I will still rather tolerate Kay than Remy in the Boston booth- he's an idiot gamer with a grating New England accent) or listening to music.

I'd switch to the radio broadcast except Jon Sterling & Susan Waldman are even worse. But here's the thing: it took me a few years but I got Joe Bleeping Morgan fired from his Sunday night ESPN gig-- thank heavens! So now I have Kay in my cross-hairs. Consider this my first shot and it's not a warning-- I want Michael Kay out of the YES booth. He has a voice made for newsprint; let him return to that and I won't read.

Thanks,
Brian