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Blue Jays-Yankees Preview

Aug 12, 2009 - 4:18 AM By PAUL DIGIACOMO STATS Senior Editor

Toronto (54-57) at New York (69-43), 1:05 p.m. EDT

When the New York Yankees signed A.J. Burnett in the offseason, they hoped he would fit nicely behind CC Sabathia at the top of their rotation.

Burnett, though, has arguably become New York's best starter.

The right-hander looks to continue his recent success Wednesday afternoon when he faces his former Toronto Blue Jays teammates for the third time this season.

Burnett was inconsistent for the first two months of 2009, going 4-3 with a 4.89 ERA in 12 starts. After allowing five runs in a 7-0 loss at Boston on June 9, though, he has been dominant.

Burnett has given up more than three runs only once over his last 10 outings to go 6-2 with a 2.32 ERA - a figure that would be much lower if he hadn't allowed seven runs over 4 2-3 innings of a 14-4 loss at Chicago on Aug. 1.

He bounced back nicely from that outing Friday at home, giving up one hit in 7 2-3 innings as the Yankees defeated the Red Sox 2-0 in 15 innings.

"It's important, because it's like a playoff game," manager Joe Girardi told the Yankees' official Web site. "There's going to be games like that down the stretch here that we're playing. They're going to be tight ballgames and A.J. came up huge for us."

Burnett (10-5, 3.67) left to a standing ovation after throwing 118 pitches, tied for his second-most this season.

"It was the loudest thing I've ever heard," he said. "I had goosebumps the whole way to the dugout. I'm just glad I didn't drop my glove or something, because that was awesome."

Burnett is 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA against the Blue Jays this season after going 38-26 with a 3.94 ERA for them from 2006-08.

He'll now be trying to lead the red-hot Yankees (70-43) to another victory. New York lost 5-4 in the opener of this three-game series Monday to end a seven-game win streak, but scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat Toronto 7-5 on Tuesday.

"Today was a very important win," Hideki Matsui said through an interpreter after tying the game at 4-all with a leadoff home run in the eighth. "After winning four games against the Red Sox, losing yesterday and then possibly losing today, it may seem on the outside like we're sort of deflating."

New York, leading second-place Boston by 5 1/2 games in the AL East, is 19-6 since the All-Star break - going 14-2 at Yankee Stadium to improve to a major league-best 40-18 at home.

Rookie Ricky Romero (10-5, 3.66) will take the mound trying to help the Blue Jays (54-58) become the first team to win a series at Yankee Stadium since Washington took two of three June 16-18.

Romero has cooled off since pitching extremely well to begin his career. He allowed more than three runs twice in his first 13 starts, going 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA.

The 24-year-old left-hander, however, has given up four runs in four of his last five outings, posting a 5.65 ERA. He lost for the second time in 11 starts Friday, 7-5 at home to Baltimore.

Romero beat the Yankees 7-6 in New York on July 6 after allowing three runs over 6 1-3 innings.