FanHouse A.j. Burnett

PHILADELPHIA -- Ready and willing is one thing.

Able is another.

"Oh yeah," Andy Pettitte said with a definitive nod when FanHouse asked if he'd be able to pitch Game 6 of the World Series on short rest. "Whenever they tell me to pitch."

But how will it go?

CC Sabathia was fine on three days' rest in Game 4. A.J. Burnett -- less durable than Sabathia but younger than Pettitte -- was awful in Game 5.

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PHILADELPHIA -- Not only will CC Sabathia come back on short rest for Game 4 of the World Series, but the Yankees seem to be leaning toward using A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte on short rest as well.

That would give the Yankees a three-man rotation for the World Series, which no team has done (in a Series of more than four games) since 1992.

The Yankees confirmed, in no surprise, that Sabathia will start Sunday's Game 4. He also started on short rest in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

And while manager Joe Girardi would say only he would "possibly" start Burnett in Game 5 and Pettitte in Game 6, he said Chad Gaudin -- the only other option -- would be "available to us in the bullpen" for Game 4.

NEW YORK -- The good A.J. Burnett showed up at Yankee Stadium Thursday night. Scratch that, this wasn't just the good Burnett on the mound, his pitches dancing across every tiny speck of the plate's corner, his psyche remaining as calm as a summer day. This was a great Burnett, an imposing Burnett, a Burnett who managed to keep his evil side stowed away in the broom closet for one entire game.

And what a game it was, with Burnett and Philadelphia starter Pedro Martinez daring each other to blink first, to crack slightly, to make consecutive bad pitches. When it was over, when Burnett and the Yankees had held tight to a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the World Series, New York manager Joe Girardi still looked as if you could bounce subway tokens off the bulging veins in his neck.

"Extremely impressive. [Burnett] was great tonight," said Girardi, breathing slightly easier now that the Yankees can head down the turnpike with the World Series tied 1-1, and his team's bats itching to break out in Philadelphia's warm weather.

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During FanHouse's marathon live chat of the ALCS and NLCS yesterday, I couldn't help but notice Scott Boras directly behind home plate as the Angels took on the Yankees in Game 3. I was informed during the chat by our own Jeff Fletcher that Boras has season tickets behind home plate at both Angels and Dodger Stadium, and he likes to show up early so he's available to the media.

Well, Boras was available Monday, and he fired his opening salvo of the Matt Holliday Sweepstakes this winter. It looks like any team that wants to sign Holliday should start their offers somewhere in the range of the eight-year $180 million that Mark Teixeira got from the Yankees last winter.

NEW YORK -- Huge breaking news from Yankee camp: Jorge Posada is furious he won't be catching A.J. Burnett in Game 2 of the playoffs. No, wait, scratch that, now Posada is acting like an unruffled veteran, calmly saying "it's all about the team," and so it's over to Joe Girardi, to ascertain why the manager picked such a fine time to cause so much hyperventilating around what had been the most stable team in baseball.

By choosing to start Jose Molina and not Posada behind the plate Friday when Burnett makes his first ALDS start for the Yankees against the remarkable Minnesota Twins, Girardi proved he's neither sentimental nor averse to taking an unpopular risk. Of course, the Posada-Burnett battery has sometimes looked as uncomfortable as Jon and Kate sitting on the couch together, and to pair the fiery catcher again with the streaky pitcher at this juncture would be a mighty large gamble. Still, no matter how sensible, stat-driven Girardi's decision might be, it landed with a considerable thump.

When September opened, one of the biggest question marks surrounding the Yankees was how much they could trust A.J. Burnett in a big playoff start. He'd just flopped at Fenway Park for the second time, calling into question his fitness under the spotlight and making some Yankee fans worry about their investment in the right-hander.

Those fears subsided thanks to Burnett's strong final month, however. He went 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings pitched. What was the difference? Jose Molina was wearing the tools of ignorance for all but one of the seven September outings while Jorge Posada sat on the bench, which is why he'll get the start with Burnett on the mound in Game 2 of the ALDS.

Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

On Sunday, Ichiro Suzuki became the second fastest player to ever reach the 2,000 hit milestone as he doubled in the first inning and later scored.

It took Suzuki 1,402 games to reach 2,000 hits. The fastest was Al Simmons who did it in 1,390 games. Suzuki needs five more hits to reach 200 for the season, which would break the record he shares with Willie Keeler at nine consecutive seasons with 200.

As milestone talk goes, Ichiro is playing second fiddle to what's about to happen in New York.

It's a great pitching week for Chicago-based teams. All four of the starting pitchers (two from the White Sox and two from the Cubs) are "Must Start" options.

Lineups lock on Monday at 1:05 PM ET, so get those two-start pitchers into your lineup before then.

Must Start
Jon Lester, Red Sox - Tuesday at TB (W. Davis) and Sunday at CWS (J. Danks)
Rich Harden, Cubs - Monday vs HOU (R. Oswalt) and Saturday at NYM (N. Figueroa)
Randy Wells, Cubs - Tuesday vs HOU (B. Moehler) and Sunday at NYM (M. Pelfrey)
John Danks, White Sox - Tuesday at MIN (N. Blackburn) and Sunday vs BOS (J. Lester)
Gavin Floyd, White Sox - Monday at MIN (A. Gabino) and Saturday vs BOS (T. Wakefield)
Josh Johnson, Marlins - Monday vs ATL (T. Hudson) and Saturday at WAS (G. Mock)
Roy Oswalt, Astros - Monday at CHC (R. Harden) and Sunday vs PHI (C. Hamels)
Randy Wolf, Dodgers - Monday vs ARZ (D. Davis) and Saturday vs SD (M. Latos)

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday -- it's running Friday this week.

Earlier this week, Brad Lidge's nightmare 2009 season continued, when he allowed a walk-off homer to Andrew McCutchen. Ed Price covered the outing the following morning. The abysmal performance by the Phillies' closer underlines the only weakness of the defending World Series Champions.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

Every Hot Stove season, each team reshapes its roster in an attempt to better themselves. After each transaction, whether a free agent acquisition, trade or something else, writers and bloggers everywhere provide knee-jerk reactions on each particular move. Though the majority of the analysis is educated, it's still just conjecture. Today, we'll take the long view and look back at some of the maneuvering this past offseason and see how it played out on the field.