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Photograph by Jim Mone/AP
Despite being unable to beat the Red Sox this year (0-8 so far against them), the Yankees are only one game behind them. As they head into the All-Star Break, the Yankees are playing their best baseball of the season, something they will need to continue to do if they are going to bring playoff baseball back to the Bronx.
Among the standout performances of the first half, the 1-2 punch of C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett is the most encouraging. Both starters have won 8 games and both starters have ERA’s under 4. They have been especially good recently and they front the best Yankee rotation since 2003.
Mark Teixeira’s 21 home runs and Derek Jeter’s .321 batting average have attracted a lot of attention, but the play of Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner deserves mention. Both players are above the league average in OPS and have also provided the Yankees with solid defense in center. Nick Swisher’s average may be low (.238), but he is drawing plenty of walks and he has hit 14 home runs. Phil Hughes has been a revelation in the bullpen, allowing only two earned runs in 17 innings of work.
While the Yankees have had a successful first half, Chien-Ming Wang has been a disaster. He is currently on his second DL stint and sports an ERA of 9.42 in 42 innings of work. Joba Chamberlain has been mediocre as a starter, walking far too many hitters and not pitching deep enough into games. Xavier Nady’s season was over almost before it started as he hurt his elbow in the eighth game of the season and will now miss the rest of the year.
On paper the Yankees certainly have enough talent to win, but they must show some mental toughness in the second half. The Red Sox are just as good and have dominated them in head-to-head play. To win their 27th championship, New York will have to fix that.
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Can someone at Gothamist explain to me why you have a Yankee fan and a Yankee fan writing these 2 articles? Is this what you call journalistic impartiality?
Your Mets coverage is biased, fraught with errors and usually wrong.
Also, someone who knows baseball might note that Tex's 21 HRs are a joke because most are at home, while Swisher's, half of them were in March/April on the road when he was just happy to be starting. No mention of Joba's travails as a starter. Would you really say this is the best rotation since 2003? Didn't they go to the World Series that year?
"No mention of Joba's travails as a starter."
Except, you know, for that sentence that starts out "Joba Chamberlain has been mediocre as a starter..."
"someone who knows baseball might note that Tex's 21 HRs are a joke because most are at home"
Right, because if you know baseball you know that home runs at home don't actually count.
"while Swisher's, half of them were in March/April on the road"
Right, because if you know baseball you know that home runs on the road don't actually count.
And home runs in March and April? Not even worth hitting those. Actually, those home runs probably caused the Yankees to lose some games. What kind of idiot hits home runs in April?
You got me on the Joba quote but the rest is valid.
This piece feels like it's written by an overly optimistic Yankee fan written coming off their 8-game winning streak.
I've been to Yankee stadium and the size of the field is a joke as are the home runs hit in it. So you don't point to those or Swishilicious as signs of power hitting.