A.J. shrugs off trouble; that pleases him

VIERA, Fla. -- In this start, A.J. Burnett was far from perfect -- part of the reason he felt he accomplished more in his third exhibition start than his second.

Yes, five days earlier, Burnett had set down all nine Phillies he faced, but pitchers frequently have to make it through outings without their best stuff.

And if there was one hallmark of Burnett's awful 2010 season, it was that when things went bad, they often stayed that way.

So Saturday, when Michael Morse hit a two-run homer with none out in the second inning of the Nationals' 6-5 victory over the Yankees at Space Coast Stadium, it was interesting to see how Burnett would react.

Burnett -- who had not allowed a run in six innings to that point -- reacted just fine, retiring three straight to end the inning and six straight after that.

"Got hit, gave up the bomb and didn't really care,'' Burnett said. "Get back on the mound and get the next three guys. I'm not going to be perfect every time, we all know that, so it's good to get out of the stretch and be able to make some pitches after they score a couple.''

Manager Joe Girardi took notice as well.

"It's what you want your pitchers to be able to do,'' he said. "You don't have a Nintendo controller. Sometimes you're going to make good pitches and they're going to get hit. But he bounced right back and threw well the rest of the day.''

Burnett allowed two runs and two hits in four innings. He struck out four and walked none, the continuation of a trend. In nine innings, Burnett has not walked a batter and has struck out six.

In addition to shrugging off Morse's fifth homer of spring training, Burnett was most pleased with the progress of his curveball. That's one pitch he typically doesn't worry about, and it was effective against the Nationals.

"I was able to find my second pitch today, my curveball,'' Burnett said. "I threw the ball pretty much where I wanted to.''

Said Girardi: "That's the first day he's really thrown a number of curveballs, and it was good. It had that depth that we're looking for as opposed to so much side-to-side.''

Like most veterans, Burnett is not worried about results at this point. The mechanical adjustment he's working on with new pitching coach Larry Rothschild -- keeping him more in line with the plate on his delivery -- is working and the numbers have followed.

"If results is execution, then yes,'' Burnett said. "You're going to give up your hits, you're going to get by with some mistakes, but the ball's going where I want it to.

"I'm not walking guys, I'm staying in the strike zone, I'm correcting things without knowing it. And that's what all the stuff we did is for so I don't have to worry about my mechanics out there and try to fix stuff. Just get the ball and throw it.''

Burnett will start the season's second or third game -- the rotation order hasn't been disclosed as yet -- and he wanted to make it clear he's not satisfied with where he's at.

"By no means am I happy or content right now,'' he said. "I have a long way to go. Everything's different under the lights , so it's preparing right now to get there, to get to that point. But everything feels great so far.''