Makes sense to keep 6-man rotation going

Joe Girardi looked his mopiest late yesterday afternoon, because that's what the Yankees' manager does after a game like this. After a two-day stretch like this.

Rumor has it that, while earning his industrial engineering degree at Northwestern University, Girardi minored in frowning.

Sometimes, you've just got to let it go, however, and the truth is that the Yankees' sloppy, 5-4, 11-inning loss to lowly Baltimore at a soggy Yankee Stadium -- completing a de facto night-day doubleheader after the Yankees' 5-3 victory early Wednesday morning -- provided little impact on the larger scale.

The Yankees still occupy the American League penthouse, and, yup, Eduardo Nunez needs to spend the winter working on defense. What else do you got?

Well, there's this: A.J. Burnett started and embarrassed neither himself nor his team for a second straight outing, allowing four runs in six-plus innings. And the more the Yankees deploy their six-man rotation, the more sense it makes to keep it going through the end of the regular season.

"It's worked pretty well for us," Girardi said. "It seems to keep our guys pretty fresh, too. We'll decide what we're going to do. I'm not committed to one way or another what we're going to do. We'll see."

The Yankees (87-54) have so much room for error -- they lead Tampa Bay (78-64) by 10 games in the loss column in the race to clinch a playoff spot, with Boston (85-56 entering Wednesday night) in between -- that they can afford to serve multiple agendas heading to October.

They can ensure sufficient rest for CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon, the four guys who probably would comprise the playoff rotation if the season ended today. Given the fragility of Garcia and Colon, they can keep Burnett and Phil Hughes in their starters' routines, in case one or both is needed. If everyone stays healthy, then Burnett and Hughes can use their starts to audition for a long relief position.

By staying in the starting rotation, furthermore, Burnett can showcase himself to other clubs' officials who are scouting with next year in mind. If the Yankees can find a National League team willing to take on Burnett and, say, half of the $33 million remaining on his contract through 2013, that might be an offer the Yankees can't refuse.

With the quick turnaround, the Yankees started the B team behind Burnett, a lineup including Eduardo Nunez at shortstop, Brandon Laird at first base, Greg Golson in center and Ramiro Pena at second base. Nunez committed a pair of errors and Laird made his first, and Burnett failed to touch first base to complete a 3-6-1 double play on Nick Markakis in the third.

Nolan Reimold capped the third with a two-run homer to left, giving the Orioles a 4-2 lead, but Burnett stuck around to let the Yankees tie it at 4.

"He did a pretty good job of not allowing a lot of hits," Girardi said of Burnett, who gave up seven hits, walked four and struck out seven. "It's just mistakes that we made."

Burnett followed Hughes' six-inning, two-run outing late Tuesday into early Wednesday. At this point, there's no reason to demote either to the bullpen.

This marked Burnett's third straight start on five days' rest. "There's no excuses," he said. "I'm not going to give into that. It's just definitely not the same. You throw extra bullpens, try to stay sharp, it's not the same. No excuses. It's not the reason I gave up a homer today . . But I can't lie. It's a little different."

He'll live. Everyone else seems to be doing all right, too, so why mess with it?