Burnett shelled again as Yankees lose, 9-4

LOS ANGELES - Once again, leading up to an A.J. Burnett start, all involved said the bullpen sessions were sharp and the confidence was high.

Once again, on the mound that matters, there was another meltdown.

Burnett didn't make it out of the fourth inning for the second time in three outings and lost for the fifth straight start last night as the Dodgers beat the Yankees, 9-4, before another sellout crowd of 56,000 at Dodger Stadium.

Burnett is 6-7 with a 5.25 ERA after starting the season 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA. In his last five starts, he has allowed 29 runs (all earned), 35 hits, 17 walks and three hit batsmen in 23 innings.

"I think it's more frustrating because of the start I had," said Burnett, who theorized he's "overdoing it" on the mound. "That's the way I should be pitching, that's the way I will pitch. It's just a matter, as tough as it is, of not getting too down and staying positive. Keep plugging away and understanding and realizing I'm going to come out of this."

Joe Girardi also believes that and said Burnett - who allowed six runs, six hits and six walks in three innings-plus and was pulled after the first two batters of the fourth inning reached base - still isn't in danger of being skipped.

Javier Vazquez was skipped earlier this season when he started 1-3 with a 9.78 ERA. Girardi said one reason he skipped Vazquez was that it appeared his best stuff simply wasn't there. Though the results don't show it, Burnett's velocity is fine and his pitch movement has been there, at least at times.

"We thought it would be good for Javy to skip a start," Girardi said. "I don't see a lack of velocity, I don't see a lack of bite in [Burnett's] ball. It's just execution pitch after pitch, and that's something that we need to work on. We're 10 minutes after the game, but my thought is not to skip him."

Yesterday's outing came on the heels of Burnett's nightmare outing in Phoenix on Monday, when he allowed three home runs and five runs in the first inning alone.

Yesterday's first inning wasn't as bad as Monday's, but it was an indication that not much had changed in five days for Burnett. Or, really, since June 4, when pitching coach Dave Eiland took a leave of absence to deal with a family matter.

Four Yankees pitchers wound up allowing 11 hits and 10 walks to the Dodgers. James Loney had four RBIs and Rafael Furcal had three hits and scored three runs.

Given a 3-0 lead on Mark Teixeira's three-run blast in the top of the first - his 13th home run of the season - Burnett immediately got into trouble.

Furcal lined his second pitch to left for a single. After Matt Kemp struck out, Andre Ethier singled and Manny Ramirez slapped a ground-rule double down the rightfield line to make it 3-1. Girardi went to the mound for a quick word with Burnett, and soon after he got back to the dugout, Loney lined a sacrifice fly to left.

The Yankees increased their lead to 4-2 in the third, helped by a hard takeout slide by Teixeira that broke up a double play, but Burnett allowed three runs and threw 35 pitches in the bottom of the third as the Dodgers took the lead for good at 5-4. The first four batters of the inning reached base, with Loney lining a two-run single to right to tie it at 4. Ramirez, who had walked, scored the go-ahead run when Russell Martin grounded into a double play.

Burnett actually thought his stuff was very good the first two innings and felt it was the third when everything went south. He - like Girardi, at least for now - doesn't believe being skipped will solve his problems.

"Keep sending me out," Burnett said. "I'm not going to give up, I'm going to get better. We've all seen what I can do. It's just a matter of doing it."