Burnett, Jays Make Yankees Blue

Mike Mussina came within one out of the vaunted "quality start", but his outing tonight was anything but quality. His performance was no better than what we saw for most of last season- an inability to control pitches, pitches left up in the zone, and a Yankees loss. If not for 3 double plays and Johnny Damon's thievery of Alex Rios' potential home run ball in the 6th inning the score could have been much worse.

On the flip side, A.J. Burnett was dealing. The oft-injured right-hander blanked the Yankees on 4 hits thru 6 innings before Alex Rodriguez slugged a 2-run shot off of him in the 7th. It was A-Rod's first home run of the season and number 519 for his career. But it wasn't enough as the Blue Jays toppled the Yankees 5-2.

Things started off badly for the Yankees right off the first at-bat. Jason Giambi mishandled lead off hitter David Eckstein's grounder for an error and Shannon Stewart and Rios followed with consecutive singles for the first run of the game.

Vernon Wells' 2-run homer in the 3rd inning gave Burnett enough of cushion for the night. The Blue Jays defense made sure Burnett's effort would stand up as well. Bobby Abreu was thrown out stealing in the first inning and after Derek Jeter reached on Burnett's fielding error in the 4th, he was gunned down at second when Rios retrieved Burnett's errant throw (preventing a double error on the play).

The Yankees had one more chance against closer Jeremy Accardo in the 9th when Jeter and Abreu opened the inning with singles. But Accardo blew a strike three fastball past A-Rod, retired Giambi on a deep fly to left center and got Robinson Cano to hit a game ending pop up.

News and Notes

Jorge Posada was in the original Yankees lineup, but was scratched after coming up with a sore right shoulder. Jose Molina went 1-3 and threw out two would-be base stealers.

Two season ticket holders were arrested during opening night when they try to steal some of the bunting and damaged the facade. In addition to possibly going to jail, they've had their season tickets revoked.

Morgan Ensberg got heat when he wore number 21 during spring training, but LaTroy Hawkins scooped it up anyway when Ensberg went with number 11 for the regular season. Yankees fans ridiculously booed Hawkins during Tuesday night's player introductions. Things didn't get any better tonight when Hawkins allowed a run in 1.1 innings.

Toronto	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Eckstein, SS	5	1	0	0	0	0	3	.000
Stewart, LF	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.250
Coats, LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Rios, RF	3	1	2	2	1	0	0	.600
Wells, V, CF	4	2	3	2	0	0	2	.375
Thomas, DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.143
Overbay, 1B	3	0	1	0	1	1	2	.286
Hill, 2B	4	0	2	1	0	1	1	.375
Scutaro, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	4	.167
Barajas, C	4	1	2	0	0	1	3	.500
Totals	33	5	12	5	2	4	18
BATTING 2B: Barajas (1, Hawkins). 3B: Overbay (1, Farnsworth). HR: Wells, V (1, 3rd inning off Mussina, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Stewart; Rios 2; Wells, V 6; Overbay 3; Hill 2; Scutaro; Barajas 3. RBI: Rios 2 (2), Wells, V 2 (2), Hill (1). 2-out RBI: Wells, V 2; Hill; Rios. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Thomas; Scutaro; Hill. GIDP: Wells, V; Barajas; Eckstein 2; Thomas. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING CS: Scutaro (1, 2nd base by Mussina/Molina), Rios (1, 2nd base by Hawkins/Molina). FIELDING E: Burnett (1, throw). Outfield assists: Rios (Jeter at 2nd base). DP: (Scutaro-Hill-Overbay).

Toronto	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett (W, 1-0)	6.0	5	2	2	1	3	1	3.00
Tallet (H, 1)	2.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0.00
Accardo (S, 1)	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.125
Jeter, SS	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.375
Abreu, RF	3	1	1	0	1	0	1	.429
Rodriguez, 3B	4	1	1	2	0	2	2	.429
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
Cano, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.143
Matsui, DH	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.167
Molina, C	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.333
Cabrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.333
Totals	32	2	7	2	1	7	12
BATTING HR: Rodriguez (1, 7th inning off Burnett, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter 2; Abreu; Rodriguez 4; Matsui; Molina; Cabrera. RBI: Rodriguez 2 (3). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano. GIDP: Jeter. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING CS: Abreu (1, 2nd base by Burnett/Barajas). FIELDING E: Giambi (1, fielding). DP: 5 (Rodriguez-Cano-Giambi 4, Jeter-Giambi).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (L, 0-1)	5.2	8	4	3	2	2	1	4.76
Hawkins	1.1	2	1	1	0	0	0	6.75
Farnsworth	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Ohlendorf	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Burnett pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.

HBP: Thomas (by Mussina), Scutaro (by Ohlendorf).
Pitches-strikes: Burnett 93-55, Tallet 22-16, Accardo 17-12, Mussina 91-62, Hawkins 16-14, Farnsworth 16-8, Ohlendorf 9-6.
Ground outs-fly outs: Burnett 9-4, Tallet 2-1, Accardo 0-2, Mussina 11-3, Hawkins 2-1, Farnsworth 2-0, Ohlendorf 2-0.
Batters faced: Burnett 22, Tallet 6, Accardo 5, Mussina 25, Hawkins 5, Farnsworth 4, Ohlendorf 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Hawkins 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Jerry Meals. 1B: Bill Miller. 2B: Paul Emmel. 3B: Gary Darling.
Weather: 44 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 22 mph, Out to RF.
T: 3:10.
Att: 48,544.

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