A month ago, the general sentiment from Pirates fans was: "Where would this team be without Andrew McCutchen?" There was a good reason for that. McCutchen is probably the leading candidate to win the NL MVP award, and it wasn't long ago that he was threatening to win the Triple Crown.
But now, it's becoming quite apparent that ace A.J. Burnett may be the most important member of the 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates. That's a lot of hyperbole, I know, but it's hard to argue against it.
For the second time in less than a week, Burnett threw the Pirates a much needed life-preserver with a second straight masterpiece, going 8 2/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds yesterday afternoon in a 6-2 Pirates victory on Sunday afternoon. The performance by Burnett helped the Pirates salvage the final game of the weekend series after the Reds took the first two games.
Last Tuesday night, Burnett flirted with a no-hitter for 7 2/3 innings and pitched a complete game one-hitter in a 5-0 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field the night after the Pirates were hammered 14-4 by Chicago.
This past February, when Pittsburgh acquired the 35 year old Burnett from the Yankees, I didn't think much of it. In fact, I thought Burnett was a washed-up veteran who had seen his best days.
I've never been happier to be so wrong. With the likes of James McDonald and Erik Bedard struggling in recent outings, Burnett has been a life-saver post-All-Star break.
After losing the first two games in Cincinnati, there was, once again, great concern in Bucco Nation that a 2011-type collapse was imminent.
Fortunately, the Pirates got up off the floor yet again and are still alive and well and only 4 1/2 games back of the Reds in the NL Central and 2 1/2 games up in the wild card standings.
What the 2011 team was lacking was a stopper, a life-preserver, to keep them afloat and keep them winning.
With A.J. Burnett going every five days, the 2012 Pirates aren't going to sink any time soon.
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