Hindsight and Foresight: Yankee Review September 3rd to September 16th

Now that A-Rod has hit 52HRs and counting, I'd be suprised if he doesn't win the MVP this season. Not that the MVP is all about HRs--he's put up a monster of a season and will be looking for a brand spankin' new contract after this season. At least that's what I think, but I'm saving that discussion for another post.


After some medicrity the last couple of weeks, the Yankees are on a five game tear and more importantly gained ground in the Wild Card standings. Seattle has been flaming out slowly and now stand 5 games back with Detroit trying to pull back into things at 2.5 games back. It's not over yet and though the Yankees remaining schedule concludes with six series, one of which is against a team over .500, we've seen how bad the Yankees can be against teams like Tampa Bay and Baltimore--both of whom count for nine of the remaining 19 games.



Hindsight: September 3rd to September 9th

After losing a series to Tampa Bay at home of all things, Seattle came into town being just a couple of games back in the Wild Card. The first game did not bode well as King Felix (who still hasn't earned his crown in my eyes) shut down the Yankees and Clemens was tatooed and left the game with a bad elbow. But after that the offense woke up as did the pitching. The last two games against Seattle were blowouts with the Yankees outscoring the M's 22 to 5. This series made me think back to the years 1995 to the early 2000s when the M's and Yankees were somewhat rivals (M's beating the Yankees in the 1995 playoffs, but the Yankees stunning a 116 win season for the M's in 2001 to go to the World Series). Same teams but different faces. After the M's the Yanks easily swept the Royals. Pettitte and Wang have been the strong pitchers and won their 14th and 18th games respectively.



Weekly Stats


W-L: 5-1
RS/RA: 43/22
Offensive Numbers (AVG/OBP/SLG): .326/.393/.620
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 3.00/1.27/5.60/.233/.319


Who's Hot: Alex Rodriguez. Check this out: .579/.652/1.684 for a 2.336 OPS. 7 HRs and 10 RBIs to boot.


Who's Not: Hideki Matsui struggled with an 0-20 slump or something like that.


My Yankee of the Week: Phil Hughes put together a good performance. I've heard he's hard on himself, which I can definetely sympathize with, but Phil you're great keep doing what you do.


Foresight: September 10th to September 16th

Back up to Toronto where tempers may flare again and then...FENWAY!! I can't offer a prediction here on the Red Sox series other than it will probably be intense. This is the last time they will play this year in the regular season and the AL East race is still between either team. We'll see some great pitching matchups though: Game 1 Pettitte v. Dice K, Game 2 Wang v. Beckett, and Game 3 Hughes v. Schilling.


For a funny read, check out this story on Wade Boggs that a friend of mind sent me.

Finally, for any baseball fan, I recommend going to PNC Park in Pittsburgh at some point (or before they build another new stadium). I just went there this weekend for my first time. It's a great ballpark even though I had to sit in detour traffic for 2 hours to make it. Oh and you'll have to watch the Pirtates play no matter what.