AJ Burnett again did not have full control of his pitches. In seven innings on the mound, the right hander walked four, threw a wild pitch and surrendered four earned runs. It was his fourth straight loss in a game that he had pitched at least seven innings.

The defeat was the fifth suffered by Burnett im his last seven starts. The defeat dropped his record to 10-13 and his earned run average climbed to 5.15. Despite the disappointing stats, Yankee manager Joe Girardi was pleased by Burnett’s outing, “I like the way he threw the ball today. I think it was a step forward.”

The Yankee manager’s opinion was seconded by Yankee captain Derek Jeter, “I really thought he threw the ball well. He looked a lot sharper today. It was a step in the right direction.”

Burnett was not satisfied at his inability to prevent the Orioles from coming back and taking the lead after the yanks had scored, “I take pride in shut downs. Every time, you want to shut them down. I get the lead and I blow it. That’s the story today.”

One of the bright spots for the pinstripes was how Alex Rodriguez swung the bat. In his second game after a stint on the 15-dat DL, Rodriguez drove in two runs to reach the century plateau. In the fourth, he took a 2-1 pitch into the stands in left-center to tie the game at one. Rodriguez’s 22^nd round tripper for the season was the 605^th of his career.

In the sixth, with the bases loaded, Rodriguez flied deep to right for a sacrifice fly. His second run batted in gave him 100 for the 2010 season. He tied Hall of Fame sluggers Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx with 13 consecutive seasons of having achieved at least 100 runs driven in. He now holds the career mark with 14 such productive seasons.

When informed by official scorer Bill Shannon of A-Rod’s accomplishment, Girardi commented, “This shows how consistent he’s been, how healthy he’s been. He came up at a very young age and was productive right away.”

The events of the Monday’s game seems inconsistent with the fact that the two teams have exact records in reverse. The Yanks, 86-52 and the Orioles, 52-86. Yet, the yanks still have the best record in the majors and remained 2.5 games in front of the second place Tampa Rays.

The above standings are exactly where Girardi want his team to be, “Our focus is on [winning] the division. I want to have the best record and have home field advantage.”

In the second of the three game series, CC Sabathia will be attempting to win his 20^th game of the year. Jake Arrieta (4-6) will oppose him on the mound. The final game of the 10-game homestand will be the sixth afternoon game in the last seven on Wednesday.

The Yankee captain, Derek Jeter, was most responsible for the 6-4 victory on Friday night. Jeter led off the Yankees half of the first with a single to left. He moved to second after Mark Teixeira walked. He scored the first Yankee run of the evening after Alex Rodriguez doubled to cut the deficit to 3-1. A single by the red-hot Robinson Cano drove in Teixeira. In the top of the fifth, with the Yankees trailing, 4-2, Jeter tied the contest with a two-run homer. The game was knotted at four when Jeter came to the plate in the seventh frame. A long triple to right scored Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner. There was no further scoring by either team.

Jeter knocked in four runs and scored a fifth. Jeter netted three of the seven hits of the Yankees. Jeter’s hits moved him to first place in career number of base hits among active players. He surpassed the previous leader Ken Griffey, Jr. Last season, Jeter passed Lou Gehrig to become the Yanks career leader in hits. He is also the franchise leader in singles, hit by pitch and at bats, and is moving up the ladder in many other career categories.

After the contest, someone in the ballpark likened Jeter to God. The enthusiastic speaker was not a teenage girl, nor a member of Yankees management, but was the skipper of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen. The baseball veteran did not mean his words to be sacrilegious but rather as compliment to the Yankee captain.

In response to a reporter’s query of whether Guillen had previously compared Jeter to the deity, the manager said, “Yes, I did. He is God all the time. It’s fun to watch him play the game. He’s the number one ambassador in this game. The guy always has good looking women around him too. I mean, God bless him.” Of Jeter’s homer off starter Freddy Garcia, Guillen commented, “Jeter got him, but Jeter’s a professional hitter.”

The Yankees’ 12-3 win on Sunday afternoon was an old-fashioned slugfest. Despite the absence of Alex Rodriguez, resting, and Curtis Granderson, placed on the DL on Saturday the Yankee bats were extremely active on Sunday. Six Yankees, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner, had multi-hit games. The first Yankee run was scored in the second as Cano doubled to lead-off the inning and was driven in by a two-out single by Gardner. Each of the two also homered later in the game. Gardner hit a 3-3 pitch into the right field stands for his first round tripper of the year in the fourth.

He jokingly told reporters after the game, “Now I know how other guys feel when they hit them like that. That’s not my game.” The homer was Gardner’s first since June 26, 2009.  The outfielder is batting an impressive .342. One who is not surprised by Gardner’s productivity is manager Joe Girardi. After the game, he observed, “I’ve always thought of him [Gardner] as an everyday player. I love what he brings to the table.” The pitchers like him as well, Sunday’s starter, Phil Hughes, stated, “He’s [Gardner’s] been great. He tracks down everything in the outfield. Every time he’s on first, he seems to steal second.”

Cano’s three run homer in the fifth was the second baseman’s fifth of the young season. Cano’s .387 batting average ranks first in the majors and he is especially hot at the plate right now. Cano has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games with an average of .455 during that period. Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer in the sixth, his second straight game with a round tripper. He also singled twice. Mark Teixeira is obviously aware of the calendar. After his usual slow start in April, Teixeira’s bat has awakened this month. During the first month of the season, Teixeira only managed to hit safely 11 times. During the first two contests in May, Teixeira has six hits, two on May 1 and four on May 2.

In addition to the team’s fine hitting, four of its five starters are doing excellently. Phil Hughes earned his third victory by hurling seven innings of shutout ball. He gave up only four hits and a walk to lower his ERA to 1.44. Manager Girardi commented, “It’s hard to say that Hughes hasn’t done everything right for us. He’s doing everything you can ask of him.”

“We won the two games and that’s the most important thing,” said Jeter who needs three hits to tie Gehrig’s record of 2,721 hits. It marked the first time in his career he went hitless in both games of a doubleheader.

Left hander CC Sabathia allowed one run in seven innings and recorded a no decision in the first game and Phil Hughes (6-3) came in from the pen and got the win. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-3 and Mariano Rivera recorded his 39^th save in 40 opportunities in the first game win.

“Kind of interesting that he did not get a hit tonight,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi about Jeter. “The guys are really pulling for him. It will save us a little energy when he gets over this,” he commented about the Yankee captain who went a combined 0-for-8 in both games.

.There appears to be no pressure though with Jeter as close as he is to surpassing a Yankees legend in the record books.  To him wins are more important. “What can you do it’s one of those days. We come back and play tomorrow.”

New York improved to a season high 39-games over .500 their highest mark since the final day of the 2004 season when they were 40 games over.  The Yankees 7-9 hitters in the second game went 8-for 11 with three runs, a double, and four ruins batted in.

“We still have a long ways to go to what we want to accomplish,” added Girardi who saw his Yankees increase their division lead to a season high 9.0 games ahead of Boston in the American League East. The Yankees scored eight runs on eight hits in the third inning in their second game win helping starter A.J. Burnett (11-8) to an easy win.

Mark Teixeira recorded his third multi-home run game of the season helping Burnett in that third inning and later hit his 35^th home run of the season in the sixth inning. “I have felt good here for quite a while and hit a nice line drive out of there,” said Teixeira about the first home run in the third inning to deep center.

Game three of the series with Tampa is Tuesday evening at the Stadium.  Tampa, the defending American League champions with slim playoff hopes will send (7-7) David Price to the mound opposing right hander Chad Gaudin (1-0) of the Yankees.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring 786@aol.com