THAT'S WHAT THE FUSS WAS ABOUT

As Toronto fans can attest, having seen him make 80 starts as a Blue Jay between 2006 and 2008, A.J. Burnett can be equal parts superstar and sluggo. One start unhittable, the next quite average, with the key being what's going on underneath his cap. This season has been much of the same in the Bronx, where he signed in the off-season after exercising an out-clause in his deal with the Jays. On July 27th, he easily handled the Rays in St. Petersburg to pick up his 10th win to go with a 3.53 ERA, almost a half run below his career number. But the rest of the regular season saw the old A.J. return, going just 3-5 with an ERA approaching five over his final 13 starts, and he was seemingly more interested in dropping a shaving cream pie on a teammate during post-game interviews than in his own success.
In his seven innings of work, he threw first-pitch strikes to the first 11 Phillies he faced, retired his final eight hitters as the Yankees clung to a one-run lead and struck out nine Phillies with, as former Blue Jays teammate Matt Stairs described it, an unhittable back door curve. His performance matched Cliff Lee's from Game 1 and got the Yankees back into the series. And his seven-inning masterpiece allowed Joe Girardi to skip past the middle relievers and bring in Mariano Rivera to complete his 14th career, six-out, post-season save.
In the first two rounds of the playoffs, more of the same: three earned runs over his first two starts, six in Game 5 of the ALCS against the Angels including the first four batters he faced coming around to score. But in his first ever World Series start on Thursday night against the Phillies, Burnett showed why he is considered one of the top arms in the game.
The series now moves to Philadelphia after Friday's off-day and is now a best-of-five. Hamels, the MVP of last year's Fall Classic, who has been sub-standard this post-season (11 earned runs in 14.2 innings over three starts), faces veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte, whose 16 career playoff wins are the MLB jerseys most in post-season history.