"He has all the telltale signs of a pitcher who once overwhelmed his opponents. He has the colorful tattoos, the flippant demeanor, the temper. He has his own vocabulary, where pitchers' mounds are "bumps," and curve balls are "hooks," where pitches thrown out of frustration are "mad balls."

When he was young, before age forced him to compromise, A.J. Burnett had the fastball.

He doesn't anymore. And for all the hand-wringing about Burnett and his psychological state, perhaps this is the only real explanation for the situation he now faces. When Burnett takes the mound Thursday for the Yankees against the Red Sox, it will be to save his job as a starting pitcher with the Yankees.

"It is at stake," Burnett said today, acknowledging what is on the line, though he maintained that he will not allow the added pressure to get to him."