Yankees Update 24/05/09

A Much Better Week

Since that horrible 1-5 week a fortnight ago, the Yankees have turned it around putting in a 9-game winning streak. In the process they have wiped off the 2 game deficit below .500 and are now 6 games above for the first time this season. The winning pct for the season is .585, which is very close to what they need to make the 95win mark, which may or may not be enough to make the post-season. Anything short of 95wins on the other hand means they will be counting on others to fail, which is not where they want to be.

The streak included the 2 wins against the Twins in the remainder of that 4 game series and a 3game sweep of the Orioles this week. So they have managed to undo the damage of that 1-5, immediately following on. The Blue Jays were swept by the Red Sox this week so they've fallen back to the pack. The Red Sox themselves have been playing at a .600 clip in the last 10 games, but the Yankees have managed to close on them as well.

Then of course they ended the streak by losing to the Phillies, but they won one today, so the week is 5-1. At 1.5 off the Division lead, the Yankees aren't looking as bad as 2 weeks ago. It's nice that the Yankees have done so well to recover from that week, but it means they have to keep it up to catch the Blue Jays and Red Sox.

Francisco Cervelli

The big revelation during this stretch has been the guy who got the call-up from AA, catcher Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli has been an integral part of the winning streak where he has hit .323/.344/.323 His catching skills have been praised soundly, but that batting average has been gravy. His OBP was sitting at .393 through to the May 19 game.

The reports on Cervelli were that his hitting was not as impressive as his catching, but he has come in from Trenton which is a pitchers' park. Of course Ramiro Pena's bat has cooled significantly. We sort of wonder what Angel Berroa is still doing on the40-man roster, given that we lost Steve Jackson to the Pirates.

The Pirates Have Kidnapped Our Pitchers

The supposedly upcoming pitching depth of recent years has somehow ended up in the Pirates. The list includes Jeff Karstens, Russ Ohlendorf, Eric Hacker and now Steve Jackson. Steve Jackson was claimed off waivers by the Pirates and the Yankees got nothing back in return. Worse still, Steve Jackson was the last player the Yankees got in the ditching of Randy Johnson - which was ditching a guy that was useless to them, however you'd still want *something* when you trade him away.

When you add in Jose Tabata, it looks like the Pirates are busily rebuilding from Yankee spare parts. Maybe they'll even trade for Eric Duncan.

Part of it is a function of having signed CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett while keeping Joba, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes and re-signing Pettitte. There just weren't going to be spots for these guys. Still, it's weird seeing all these names over with the Pirates.

Don't Want To Jinx Them But...

The C&C hit factory, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera are doing very well at the moment. Last year Cabrera had a great April that looked like he was turining into Bernie Williams. Then he went on to have a truly below-replacement level season. So, I'm tempering my praise but he's looking very good hitting .317/.370/.500. He's also doing this on league average BABIP so that indicates he's done it without much luck. The increase in his line-drive percentage is very encouraging.

Cano is back to his 2007 level of production. He's hitting .317/.354/.527, which is very handy to have coming out of second base. What's encouraging about Cano is that his BABIP is not out of line with his 2006 and 2007.