Yankees Update

What Do You Know? 3.5 Games Out
Stumbling into the All-Star Break, the Yankees were 6.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays and 6 behind the Red Sox. While you wouldn't want to bank on things with 62 games left, 6.5 games out looks terrible on paper - in spit of what earlier incarnations of Yankees have accomplished in recent season and of course 1978.

Coming out of the All Star Break, the Yankees have been firing on all cylinders. The 11 straight wins at home is a high that hasn't been accomplished by a Yankee squad since 1998, so clearly there's something to be said for this squad when it is firing. The good news ends there. The bad news is that Posada won't be catching any time soon because of his shoulder which means, they're stuck with Jose Molina at catcher; Sidney Ponson is not going to be so lucky going forwards; there's still no help coming for the offense with Matsui out of the picture for a little while more if not for the rest of the season.

Robinson Cano is hitting .562 and they've swept the Oakland A's and the Minnesota Twins. Considering just how unlucky Cano (and Melky) have been with BABIP relative to their career levels, it's not surprising that Cano has been displaying a bit more form in July. To that extent, even Melky Cabrera has been more productive in July.

Even more amazingly, 'Cooked Moose' is now back from the dead and is sitting on an AL-leading 13wins for the seasons after today's win over the Twinkies. It's kind of mind-boggling that his ERA is as a very low 3.26, and he's hardly walked any one all year.

Moose In The Raw (Uncooked Moose, As It Were...)
This is a snapshot of Mike Mussina's season:

His HR/9 is down. Don't know how he's doing it, but he's keping the sluggers off balance.

His K/BB is at his career peak levels. He's doing this by striking out fewer guys, but walking hardly anybody.

His BABIP is actually worse than average. In other words, he's not been benefiting from the less than stellar Yankee defense this year. Which is scary, but it indicates he's pitching as well as at any point in his peak years, just without the velocity to his fastball.

The really interesting thing is that he's giving up fewer fly balls and more grounders and liners - a trend that's been continuing since 2006, but he's making it work. Even his FIP is below 4.00.
There's every chance Moose will get 20wins this season, and if he does, it will sure shut up a lot of people who insist a pitcher needs to have a 20win season somewhere to go in.
Go Moose!

Richie Sexson!?
I forgot to mention the Yankees picked up the DFA-ed Richie Sexson. It's not as sexy a move as his surname suggests. The guy was hitting close to the Mendoza line out in Seattle as their resident Boo-magnet so his DFA was sort of a mercy-killing. Since arriving, he's been adequate. He reminds me a bit of Kong - a.k.a Dave Kingman of old. A Righty bat with TTO tendencies, but Baseball reference lists Albert Belle and David Ortiz amongst similar hitters - so much for similarity scores. The weird thing about his career is that his K/BB has been all right for most part of it including this year.

Also, his BABIP suggests he was really unlucky last season and his luck hasn't improved much this season.

Those dips in his BABIP in 2004 and 2007 coincide with him posting .233 and .205 BA in those years. In years where he's hitting his norm, he's about a .265 hitter with a.340-370 OBP. A productive guy.
Therefore if Sexson works out, Cashman is a sharp guy, if it doesn't... well what the hell were we all expecting here? He's Richie Sexson.

Where To Now?
So... as of today, they are 3.5 games back on the Rays and 3 behind the Red Sox as they go to Boston. It's hard to say whether they really are ready to compete for the AL East, but the form guide would say the Yankees are red hot now, ready to make a move.

If the Yankees can take 2 of 3, then they would be showing they're serious as contenders, but it seems every time the Yankees have played the Rays and the Sawx this year, they've been edged out. The Al East really is a jungle and unless the Yankees can go back to beating up these teams with regularity this year, they're really on the outside looking in this year. God forbid it should become a seasonal trend.

UPDATE:

In a moment of whimsey, I screen-shot the google-earth shot of the current Yankee stadium. There's no sign of the new one going up, but on a moment's flash I thought, "better get that while it's there!