Last season Nats left-handed reliever Sean Burnett led a charmed life on the field. He finished with an 2.14 ERA and established himself as a go-to option for manager Jim Riggleman out of the bullpen – against hitters from either side of the plate. When closer Drew Storen struggled this spring that even gave Burnett a shot to pitch in the ninth inning. No one could argue. He’d earned it.
But after allowing the go-ahead runs to score in the top of the seventh inning of Monday’s 5-4 loss to Philadelphia it is clear Burnett isn’t right at the moment. He was tagged with a loss, a blown save – his fourth this season – and now sports a 5.59 ERA. Burnett isn’t shrinking from his struggles. But he cost starter Livan Hernandez a potential win and took it hard after the game.
“I feel good. I feel strong. Just been terrible,” Burnett said. “No way to explain it except flat-out terrible. It sucks to let another win for Livo go down the drain and to score four off Halladay and hit three home runs. That’s a game we should win. Just terrible right now, sorry.”
It was about as frank an assessment as a player will give. Burnett – never strictly a lefty specialist – still has to get those batters out first. And it isn’t happening right now. Except for times when health has been an obvious issue, he has no real solution.
“You have the answer?” Burnett asked reporters. “I don’t have the answer right now. You’ve got to go out there and battle, try to forget about the day before. That’s the thing – I have good outings I have bad outings. But there’s just no consistency right now and you can’t have that. You’re letting good starts slip away and it’s unfortunate and unacceptable. I hold myself to a higher standard than that and I’m the first one to take blame on this one.”
Burnett has Chase Utley in an 0-2 hole in the seventh inning with one out and a runner on first. But Utley drew a walk anyway. That’s set up an RBI single by Ryan Howard and a Raul Ibanez sacrifice fly. Burnett has to make Utley put the ball in play in that situation and just didn’t do it. Afterwards, Riggleman had a talk with the 28-year-old. He told Burnett that the ball looks fine coming out of his hand and he deserves better results. But until they actually turn in his favor, Burnett is going to have to battle the mind games that come with being a reliever. Confidence is king and his has gone missing. That’s a serious blow to a Nats’ bullpen that was strength in 2010.
“It’s hard to walk away from this one,” Burnett said. “Livo threw another good game and our offense put up four on Halladay and that’s not going to happen too much. It’s a game you need to win and we had it won if I can execute and get the [left-handed batters] out I’m supposed to get.”
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