A.J.'s Spring Training Off To A Good Start

("AND DOWN GOES GOLSON!!"  Courtesy of Charles Wenzelberg: NY Post)

Via The Post:

"Fright invaded Yankees camp yesterday when A.J. Burnett hit Greg Golson in the head during a morning batting-practice session on a back field at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

Golson went down and stayed on the ground. Eventually he was taken off the field on a cart. The outfielder was taken for tests, which were negative."

Looks like the offseason meetings and work with Larry Rothschild is already starting to pay dividends, huh?

/facepalm

In all seriousness, I'm sure this was just a freak accident.  But when you're a guy coming into this year under a bigger microscope than anybody on the pitching staff and with much bigger expectations to improve upon 2010 because of the current rotation situation, this is not how you want to start things off if you're A.J.  Anybody else does this and it's no big deal.  But since it's A.J., it becomes a story and an opportunity for the MSM to bring up his past failures again.  For a guy who's already shown he can be is a mental midget, KO'ing your teammate in BP isn't exactly a good way to get some positive vibes and confidence going.

(Bad A.J. makes his first 2011 appearance!)