Yankees Notes: Burnett, Eiland, Hughes, A-Rod & Posada

The Yankees are in the desert this week taking on the last place Diamondbacks, but unlike the Orioles, this last place team has a bit of fire power in their lineup, and they pounced all over AJ Burnett as the Yankees lost 10-4 .

Here are some notes:

• Rodrigo Lopez now has a 9-8 record with a 5.75 ERA in his career against the Yankees.
• Burnett is now 0-4 in his last 4 starts with a 10.35 ERA. He’s 2-6 with a 7.11 ERA in his last 9 starts.
• After the game the talk was about missing pitching coach Dave Eiland , as even Joe Girardi admitted his absence might be contributing to the problem.
• The Yankees also announced that Phil Hughes is going to have a start skipped between now and the All-Star game as part of the “Hughes Rules.”
• Alex Rodriguez (groin) and Jorge Posada (foot) both started in the field yesterday and said they were fine , but only A-Rod is likely to start today.

Burnett is really dragging this team down right now. As soon as Javier Vazquez started pitching well, he started pitching poorly. The Yankees are currently in 1st place , but if they’re going to stay there they really need all of their pitchers contributing. Eiland has been gone since June 4. We don’t know why he’s gone, I’m sure with good reason, but the Yankees need him back. With him gone it’s like having an injury on the roster.

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