The Super Bowl is America’s most-hyped sports event of the year, so it’s perhaps no surprise that there are plenty of oddities that go with it—such as half time act Madonna getting her very own press conference. Among the questions asked was one about the rumored painting of Rodriguez ...

I’m pleased to welcome the latest contributor to the Pinstriped Bible, Rebecca Glass. Rebecca has written about baseball for ESPN and You Can’t Predict Baseball and will soon be joining me at Baseball Prospectus as well. In the short time I have known Rebecca, she has not only become a good ...

It was indeed Grand! (AP) At Baseball Prospectus, I wrote about A.J. Burnett’s wobbly but ultimately redemptive performance. To me, one of the big keys to his night was his handling of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez; only once did he face them with the lead in danger, in his messy first inning. After ...

It wasn’t always pretty, but ol’ A.J., who has caused so much ink to be spilled there is a massive shortage (even here in cyberland) came through. I know I am jaded, cynical, and prone to think in worst-case scenarios, but I’ll tell you something I think you long-time readers already ...

Reader Owen G says re my comments on A.J. Burnett’s Game 4 start: This is a bit extreme…he did win, pitching 7 2/3 and giving up two runs, just two weeks ago. By contrast the last time that Porcello had a single game WPA as high was a full month prior. The narrative that AJ starts are nearly ...

The upshot of today: no matter what happens in Game 3, A.J. Burnett will be starting an elimination game. I believe it was Karl Marx who said that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. I’m not sure where a crucial postseason start by Burnett lies on the spectrum, ...

The identity of the Yankees' third starter for the Division Series remains an unsettled — and unsettling — mystery. Tuesday night was as crazy as this season has seen. With both leagues’ Wild Card races still up for grabs on the penultimate day of the regular season, no less than four games ...

Once again, it fell apart in a hurry for A.J. Burnett. (AP) During the third inning of Monday’s Yankees-Twins tilt, I had the temerity to plop down in front of my TV and begin plonking thusly: A.J. Burnett’s resurgence continues. On Monday afternoon, the mercurial righty continued the dominant ...

Just kidding. Not every prospect hits a home run in his first at-bat, or even his first cup of coffee. Heck, the great Tyrus Raymond Cobb himself hit only .240 in his first go-round. Give Montero time and he’ll come around. The Georgia Peach: Even he took awhile to get going. (AP) I was just thinking ...

I’m still absorbing the idea of having CC Sabathia cram 128 pitches into six innings in a game that was in no way a must win as an acceptable strategy—it’s one thing to throw 128 pitches in nine innings, another to squeeze them into two-thirds the space, and I would hate to see the myth of Sabathia’s ...

MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE GONE WITH “HEIDI” INSTEAD I am one of those lucky chaps that Hurricane Irene has left without electricity, so I’m literally in the dark this week–if you tell me that Nick Swisher has been traded for a pack of Barbary Apes, I would have to believe you, credulous fellow ...

I'm just going to keep using this image of A.J. Burnett. (AP) Not sure what caused more shaking around here, this afternoon’s earthquake tremor or Brian Cashman saying that there are “no guarantees” that A.J. Burnett remains in the rotation after his next start. That’s quite the turnaround ...