Today is April 2 and three years ago at Yankee Stadium, A.J. Burnett began his 18-win campaign with the Blue Jays by beating the team that later that year would give him a five-year deal. That night Burnett took a shutout into the seventh inning before allowing a home run to Alex Rodriguez.

"A.J. was definitely dominating today. He had a good changeup and breaking ball going tonight.

"He was throwing in the 90s and then he has curveball like that."

Those were the words of then Toronto manager John Gibbons and Rodriguez and as Burnett officially begins Year Three in pinstripes, the Yankees are hopeful those comments will be said numerous times, perhaps something along the lines of 15 to 20 times.

Burnett had a good spring training and a changed mechanical approach that he and the Yankees hope will avoid drifting and staying balanced. Of course, one start good or bad would be difficult to read but without a doubt, Burnett would prefer to have the good kind of start.

Burnett will be pitching to Russell Martin, who called a nice game, scored two runs and swiped a bag two days ago. Martin and the rest of the Yankees will be facing Brad Penny, who last faced the Bombers August 21, 2009 with the Red Sox.

Elsewhere, apparently leading the league in appearances for three years running might cause Pedro Feliciano to miss more time. Now, he is slated to return from a shoulder injury later this month and the fact that the lefty made 266 appearances over the last three years might be among the reasons why.

Feliciano is not the first reliever to lead the league in appearances three straight years. Lefty Steve Kline did it from 1999-2001 with the Expos and Cardinals. In each of those seasons, Kline pitched more innings than Feliciano, whose total was 53 1/3, 59 1/3 and 62 2/3.

Of course those figures are nothing when you look at Mike Marshall. In 1974, Marshall pitched 208 1/3 innings and notched 21 saves in 106 appearances.

Still it's not the way you want your new lefty reliever to begin his tenure, though the Yankees might be better served by Feliciano fully recovering.

As for the Tigers, they have won once in eight games at the new Yankee Stadium and would like to perform similar to when they swept the Yankees at old Yankee Stadium three years ago. One of those keys for possible success might be Brennan Boesch, who a year ago burst on to the scene in Detroit when the Yankees were there prompting one announcer to wonder how he was in the minors at the start of the year.

Eventually Boesch cooled off and but now like Burnett is coming off a good spring and hopes it translates into the regular season.