"At her angriest, Hurricane Irene will resemble a summer squall compared to the destruction A.J. Burnett administered last night to his chances of sticking in the Yankees' rotation whenever it's sliced from six to five.

As much as the Yankees' brass was hoping their large investment could bounce back last night against the woeful Orioles at Camden Yards, even the decision makers have to agree with a talent evaluator who witnessed Burnett's second straight brutal outing.

"There is nothing there to work with," the scout said in the middle of Burnett's disastrous five-inning outing that resulted in a 12-5 loss that was witnessed by 32,762. "Nothing. No location. He won't pitch inside. No command."

Burnett agreed with the scout about not using his fastball.

"In the third inning I got mad and started pitching in and got aggressive," said Burnett, who gave up six runs in the second inning and nine overall. "I need to pitch in more. I know guys are sitting and waiting. In the past I got away with it because I threw 97-98 [mph]. I have good stuff but I don't throw that hard."

Burnett gave up nine hits, walked two and hiked his AL-leading wild pitch total to 20. He wasn't removed in the middle of an inning, so Burnett didn't get the opportunity to throw a fit like he did last weekend in Minnesota. That day, he said "That's bleepin [bull- - - - ]," then claimed the epithet wasn't directed at Joe Girardi, but was about a pitch he thought was a strike but not called."