August slumpers must rebound in September

With five weeks remaining in baseball's regular season, several postseason stalwarts have fallen on hard times. Although unlikely, it is possible that they all could end up watching the playoffs instead of participating in them this season. A pitcher, hitter and team that must heat up dramatically in September after suffering through a miserable August:
PITCHER: A.J. Burnett(notes), SP, Yankees
Following a disastrous 3 1/3-inning outing by nfl throwback jerseys Burnett on Friday, manager Joe Girardi hinted that the righthander's rotation spot could be in jeopardy. In five August starts, Burnett is 0-4 with a 7.80 ERA.
New York would prefer not to banish Burnett to the bullpen, and it has little choice but to stick with him and hope he recovers—as he did in July (3-1, 2.00 ERA) following a horrible June (0-5, 11.35 ERA). The Yankees have few alternatives. Andy Pettitte(notes) is on the disabled list, and Javier Vazquez(notes) recently lost his rotation spot to rookie Ivan Nova(notes). It's still possible, though unlikely, that Tampa Bay and Boston could finish ahead of New York.
HITTER: Ryan Howard(notes), 1B, Phillies
Since coming off the Philadelphia Eagles jersey disabled list on Aug. 21, Howard is 4-for-29 with 16 strikeouts, no homers and one RBI. Although he wasn't the sole reason Philadelphia was swept at home by the Astros this week, Howard was 0-for-15 with 10 strikeouts in the three games he started in that four-game series.
Perhaps next week's series at Dodger Stadium will revive his bat and increase the October urgency. In the NLCS against Los Angeles last season, Howard hit .333, homered twice and drove in eight runs.
TEAM: Cardinals
St. Louis' 11-11 record in August isn't terrible on the surface, but it is when you combine it with this: First-place Cincinnati's 16 wins this month are tied for the major league lead, and the Cardinals are 5-9 against teams with sub-.500 records in August (but 6-2 against teams with winning records). The September schedule features 17 games against teams with losing records. Not exactly a blessing.
"Baseball is such a unique and funny game that Oakland Raiders jersey some years you play great against good teams and bad against bad teams. Some years bad against great teams and great against bad teams," said Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright(notes) following a loss to the sub-.500 Brewers in his most recent start.