MLB PLayoffs 2011: Bronx Bombers Will Bring Series Back to Yankee Stadium

With so much of the focus of Game 4 between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers being placed on A.J. Burnett and what he is going to do, no one seems to be talking about what Rick Porcello is going to do against the Yankees' lineup.

Burnett is an easy target. He makes a lot of money, but his performance this season has not been good enough to justify the $16.5 million he is getting paid (of course, no one wants to blame the front office for signing him to the contract).

Advanced metrics will tell you, however, that Burnett is having a season similar to the one he had in 2009, when he was a hero for the most recent Yankees' championship team.

The offense has struggled all series long. The only players that have produced with the bat in this series are Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner. Where is the criticism of Derek Jeter or Mark Teixeira or Nick Swisher or Russell Martin?

(I left A-Rod's name off the list because he is going to be criticized regardless of what he does, good or bad).

No, we don't want to talk about them. It is all about what is going to happen with Burnett. The New York Daily News is running a headline that reads "It's All About A.J."

The good news for the Yankees is that Porcello has struggled this season, almost as much as Burnett has. The difference is Porcello was able to mask his problems by pitching against bad teams in September to pad his stat line.

In Porcello's last five starts of the season, he went at least six innings and never allowed more than three runs. But he did that against Cleveland twice, Chicago, Oakland and Baltimore.

The Yankees are going to have chances to hit Porcello because he is not a strikeout pitcher. He has the arm to miss bats, but he has become a sinkerball-contact pitcher.

A team like the Yankees, that features a number of high-contact hitters, is going to have a field day against Porcello. The more runs that the Yankees score, the less effective Burnett has to be.

Don't get me wrong: Burnett has to pitch well. But if the offense keeps hitting like it has in this series, it won't matter what he does in this game.

In the end, the Yankees will figure out their offensive woes and get this series back to New York for a decisive fifth game on Thursday.