YONG KIM / Staff photographer
In his first World Series action, A.J. Burnett worked seven strong innings against the Phillies.
- Phillies-Yankees World Series Game 2 Reactions
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- Blanton will start Game Four
- Ratings: Phils slip in Game 2
- Opposites attract, like Rollins and Manuel
- Phils' bullpen outing a relief, if not enough
- Back in left field, Ibanez has big night
- Howard and Rodriguez not exactly cleaning up
- Loss doesn't faze the Phillies faithful
- Ed Barkowitz: Phillies manager Manuel feeling relaxed in World Series return
- Phillies Notebook: Phillies' Stairs gets role he was made for: DH
Video: Inquirer's Bob Ford debates the Series- More World Series coverage from the Inquirer and Daily News
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Photos: 2009 Phillies - Relive the memories: Coverage of the World Series run
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Yankees' Burnett makes most of his moment to shine
NEW YORK - A.J. Burnett, the more dynamic of the Marlins' promising duo, was relegated to spectatorship, to cheerleading.
Burnett watched with his right arm just out of a sling.
He witnessed hard-throwing, pedigreed cohort Josh Beckett begin an ascent to rarified fame in 2003, against the vaunted Yankees, who'd propelled themselves into the World Series thanks to an unlikely Aaron Boone homer.
Jack McKeon's minnows - they were less ferocious than they were young - upset those Yanks. It might have been the launching pad for Burnett's career, the coming-out party for a lanky, brash Southerner.
Instead, it made one more Texan famous, then rich, with the Red Sox.
Burnett got rich, too. He did it in Toronto, where he signed after the 2005 season. But he never won. He never saw the postseason.
He fought elbow and shoulder problems in Toronto for 3 years. Healthy in 2008, he flashed brilliance again, winning 18 games, convincing the Yankees to sign him to a deal worth $82.5 million over the next 5 years. He would be fellow mercenary CC Sabathia's wingman.
It has worked out.
Burnett surrendered one run over seven innings last night in Game 2 of the World Series, a 3-1 Yankees win. It was his first postseason win.
It ended a long, painful wait.
"This makes it all better," Burnett said.
He had pitched through the sixth inning in his other three playoff starts, all this season. He only surrendered a total of three runs in the first two.
Then, last time out, he fed the Angels too many predictably hittable strikes and gave up six.
Last night, with his slider/curve snapping over the corners, he was anything but predictable; with his fastball darting in at the knees, with his two-seamer cutting back against lefties, he was anything but hittable.
He struck out nine. He walked two, one intentionally, sort of; he gave Chase Utley ball four after Utley ran a count to 3-0 with first base open and two outs in the third. He then struck out Ryan Howard for the second of three times.
Burnett allowed four hits, among them a two-out double to Raul Ibanez and a subsequent single by Matt Stairs that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
That ended the damage.
He was never out of control. He was never rushed. He accepted the crowd's energy and he channeled it.
"It was way more than what I thought. You try to prepare for these games; this city, this crowd," Burnett said. "I wanted to come out and attack. Feed off the crowd. Feed off the energy. I wanted to come out with some fire."
He got hotter as he ran toward his 108-pitch count.
