According to a report by the New York Daily News, Yankees catcher Jorge Posada is slightly miffed that Jose Molina will catch A.J. Burnett on Friday when the Bombers’ take on the Twins in the ALDS.
“If A.J. is comfortable with Molina there’s not much I can do,” Posada said Tuesday after a workout at the Stadium, where he gave terse answers on the subject. “I just hope they go out there and win the game. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
Joe Girardi told Posada Sunday of his decision to start Molina on Friday.
“That was a decision that I made,” Girardi said. “As a manager you have to make some tough decisions. That was a very tough one.”
Girardi decided that the comfort level of Burnett, who went 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA in his first season in pinstripes, was more important than Posada’s bat.“When a pitcher and a catcher get in a rhythm, you hate to break it up,” Girardi said. “That is kind of the feeling that we have going now. Jorge is our number one catcher. But in this situation, we just are going to choose to catch Molina.”
You can’t fault Posada for being a little miffed given that he has nearly 100 playoff games under his belt behind the dish. But Molina has caught six of Burnett’s last seven starts and in those games A.J. is 3-1 and has held opponents to a .221 batting average. So of course Molina is going to start, especially considering the mini feud Posada and Burnett got into early in the season.
Posada is doing the right thing though. He’s showing his displeasure with the decision, but he’s not causing a distraction by creating waves. He needs to concentrate on not allowing CC Sabathia fail in another postseason and let Molina deal with Burnett.
