Hindsight and Foresight: Yankees Review July 16th to July 30th

My month has gone from a flurry of posts to a drip, mostly because it's gotten way too hectic at my day job. I should actually have a blog about my day job if only to bitch about how last minute things come together--like preparing for this conference we have in a week and a half. So I'm going to spend the next two weeks in a pressure cooker with some late nights and I'm sure at least one night where I cut loose at a bar.

Anywho, the Yankees have been great since the All-Star break so let's break it down:

Hindsight: July 16 to July 22nd

The offense exploded against Tampa Bay Saturday and Sunday putting up 38 runs in the two games capped by a season high 21-4 victory on Saturday. Everyone has been hitting including the just called up Shelley Duncan who hit three homeruns in his first three games as a Yankee and got three curtain calls for it. Wang continues to dominate in his own fashion and now Clemens is finally getting some run support. On the comeback trail are Jason Giambi and Phil Hughes who could be back with the team as early as next week but they shouldn't rush either guy back in my opinion.

Weekly Stats
W-L: 6-2
RS/RA: 66/26
Offensive Numbers (BA/OBP/SLG): .343/.415/.522
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 3.45/1.42/7.4/.270/.416
Who's Hot: Alex Rodriguez. 100 RBIs in 100 games is the best pace to date. And he had a productive week.
Who's Not: Brian Bruney. He got hit hard in his relief innings last week
My Yankee of the Week: David "Shelley" Duncan. Yes, this is the son of St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan and brother of clumsy OF Chris Duncan (also on the Cards). Duncan hit three homeruns since coming up (as a 27 year old rookie) and got a curtain call for all three. He even hit two in one game.

Foresight: July 23rd to July 29th
I am not going to say comeback, but the Yankees are slowly creeping up in the Wild Card and AL East standings. Honestly any short losing streak by Cleveland or the Red Sox will make the Yankees fun to watch again as we're heading into the dog days of summer and the last quarter of the season. But I've seen how this Yankee season has gone so if trends continue, this current streak is just another blip on the radar. However, it seems the Yankees are having fun--the young and jubilant Melky and Cano are having fun in the dugout it seems with their teammates and everyone looks more relaxed right now. This next week the Yanks are on the road in Kansas City and back at Baltimore (including the wrap up of the suspended game I went to). As noted during the All-Star break, the Yankees are playing sub .500 teams to start off this 1st half and thus far they are ripping them all another you know what.

A little note to end things here, I'll be computerless for the next few days as I head up to Massachusetts for a wedding and to visit the good ol' UMass campus. So probably no Hindsight and Foresight next week, but seriously once this damn conference is over the posts will keep rolling out. I'd like to get to one on the Red Sox after my trip to the state of Mass if only because I don't know what's going on with Doug's situation right now and something needs to be said about them for blogging purposes.