Kuzul

On Thursday afternoon, the New York Yankees avoided getting swept by the Seattle Mariners.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia led the team in the 4-2 win over the last place team in the AL West.

A-Rod sealed the deal with a two run A-Bomb. It was really in the bottom of the eighth inning and not the ninth, but who cares? A-Rod doesn’t seem to think it mattered, and he was right.

Over the July 4th weekend (Happy Birthday America!) the Yankees face the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays are a team that known for starting out hot, but always end up finding their way back to fourth place in the AL East.

The Blue Jays can play baseball, and have proved it for over two months without Roy Halladay. Toronto just offers no fan support.

They play in a stadium that only fills when the Red Sox or Yankees are in town. It is not motivating when a team goes into a slump. There is no booing or heckling from 30-40,000 fans to encourage players to want to turn things around.

That is the only excuse left for the Blue Jays. Fans are essential and that is consistently what the Blue Jays don’t have.

Ironically, the Yankees latest problem is ex-Blue Jay AJ Burnett, who will open up the series in the Bronx.

Burnett has an 11.35 ERA since June 4th, the day that Yankee pitching coach Dave Eliand took a personal leave of absence. For such a tough guy, Burnett has been affected by Eliand’s absence. Guess we will find out today if this rumor has any truth to it.

No matter what the reason, the fact is that Burnett has to pitch well in this start. His strikeout rate has been down all season, but Burnett’s problem seems to be more mental.

Girardi, being a player’s manager, rested catcher Francisco Cervelli so he can be fresh to catch for Burnett. This was smart and considerate of the Yankee skipper.

In Burnett’s last three starts, he only made it through a total of 10 innings, with 12 walks and 12 strikeouts. Burnett’s walk rate had been down prior to June 4th, but his focus should be on the bigger picture for now.

Its about time for AJ Burnett to be getting back to being himself again so that he can win games. At some point, Burnett has to address his walk rate. He already has 41 this season…yikes!

Burnett will face Blue Jay’s Brett Cecil, who is in a similar situation.

Cecil has only pitched 15 innings total in his last three starts, striking out 13 and walking an acceptable four batters.

Cecil beat the Yankees already this season, going eight innings, striking out five, walking just one batter and allowing only one earned run to score.

It seems that this new Cecil will not present as much of a challenge for the Yankees lineup. The Bombers are also hitting as a whole, making any pitchers job much harder.

Yankee fans need to watch the Red Sox and Rays. Our rival Red Sox are just 1.5 games behind. The even hated more Tampa Bay Rays are just 2 shy of stealing back a spot these entitled kids had for too long anyway.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com