Burnett Good Enough

A.J. Burnett was in the middle of an inning he had experienced many times last season. Pitching with a 6-1 lead, Burnett was in a bases loaded, no out situation in the 5th inning of Saturday's game. Last season there was a 99% chance there would have been a complete meltdown and in all probability he wouldn't have finished the inning, but at least for one day Burnett survived.

The Tigers cut the lead to 6-3, but Burnett finished the 5th and picked up his first win since last September 1 in the Yankees 10-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Yankees were powered by a pair of 3-run home runs from Mark Teixeira and Russell Martin, and a long solo blast off the bat of Alex Rodriguez.

Brad Penny (4.1 IP 8 ER) struggled with the Boston Red Sox in 2009 before his release and short term revival with the San Francisco Giants. After missing most of last season, Penny returned for his second stint in the AL, but fared no better than his prior experience.

Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, and Nick Swisher drove in runs in the 1st inning and Teixeira unloaded his second 3-run blast in as many games for a 6-0 lead. After the Tigers cut the lead in half, Martin stretched it back out again in the home half of the 5th with his first home run as a Yankee (off of reliever Brad Thomas).

Rodriguez's home run came at the expense of Brayan Villarreal, who was making his Major League debut. Mariano Rivera picked up his second save after a 2-run Victor Martinez home run, and an unearned run on an Eduardo Nunez error (Derek Jeter and several regulars were removed when the game got out of hand) in the 9th cut the lead to 10-6.

Notes

Derek Jeter picked up his first two hits of the season to put him within 72 of 3,000.

The Yankees go for the sweep on Sunday when Phil Hughes faces off with Max Scherzer.

The Yankees got some unwanted attention from Keith Olbermann and the MLB Front Office for relaying hand signals in Thursday's opener. Olbermann tweeted a photo of coaching operations assistant Bruce Weber putting up a number of fingers to indicate the speed of pitches. GM Brian Cashman acknowledged the fact that the league contacted the Yankees and said that the scoreboard wasn't working properly and couldn't display the radar settings. Cashman said the league seemed satisfied with the explanation and did not expect any punishment.

Cashman also told reporters that the Mets had abused Pedro Feliciano, which led to the relievers sore rotator cuff. Perhaps Cashman should have recalled the abuse several pitchers (Proctor, Sturtze, etc.) had at the hand of Joe Torre. FoxSports televised Saturday's game and Joe Buck and Tim McCarver mentioned how honest and upfront Cashman has been/is. They fail to realize that none of that occurred before George Steinbrenner was no longer running the show.