A.J. Burnett is having a tough season. It continued in his latest start on Saturday, when he went two innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. After the second, he disappeared into the clubhouse only to return with a cut above his right hand which he told Yankees manager Joe Girardi that he fell down stairs and ended up staying in the game for two more batters. Afterwards, he admitted he lied to the manager and said he really cut his hand when he slammed open double doors with a Plexiglas cover.

Burnett took ownership and apologized for lying to Girardi, but that may have had as much to do with maturity as it does his wearing a Yankees uniform. Frankly said, the Yankees will not tolerate that behavior. Things might have been different if he were still in Florida or Toronto or anywhere else for that matter, but he is a New York Yankee and excellence is not only the goal of everybody in the organization, it is also expected.

Burnett is no stranger to injuries, having landed on the DL almost a dozen times in his career, but none have been quite like this. Luckily for him, the cut is just above the wrist and not on his fingers. If so, he could really have had some difficulty holding the baseball. Regardless though, the two hitters he threw to after taking the mound in the third both reached base. At that point, Girardi came out with the hook.

It is hard to love a guy like Burnett. His dragon-like behavior is as temperamental as his arm and you never quite know what he’s going to be like both on the mound and off. Saturday was one of those double-bad days as his arm got him into trouble then his attitude made it worse before his arm completely derailed him. Burnett isn’t supposed to miss his next start, but there will be some hard looks going his way when he does take the mound again, and he’ll deserve every one of them.