In the current print edition of Baseball America, they list the “Best Tools” for players in the majors, Triple-A, Double-A and A-ball. Here’s the Yankees “minor league” players who made the cut:

International League (AAA) Best Batting Prospect: Austin Jackson

Eastern League (AA) Best Control: Zach McAllister
Eastern League (AA) Best Defensive 2B: Reegie Corona

South Atlantic League (Low A) Best Outfield Arm: Melky Mesa

Seeing this, I have to ask the same question as last year…

For pitchers on these lists, players are listed for “best” fastball, breaking ball, change-up, and control – as well as best reliever and best overall pitching prospect. So, there are six different ways for a pitcher to make the cut in each minor league classification.

But, only one Yankees pitching prospect managed to crack the charts: McAllister.

Isn’t the Yankees minor league system supposed to be filled with pitching prospects?

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I first saw this one in 1998. Or, maybe it was early 1999? Still makes me chuckle. Are these types of jokes truly a common denominator? Maybe…

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In following the machinations of the 2009 MLB Draft Signing “D-Day”, I’ve been paying close attention to what the Yanks would do with their 10th round selection,  Oklahoma State LHP Tyler Lyons.

Admittedly, I am not personally familiar with Lyons, having never seen him pitch live or on TV.  I understand that there is a lot more that goes into judging a player than simply looking at statistics.  Yet without having ever seen Lyons pitch, I can go by pre-draft scouting reports and two unassailable facts:

1. Although the Yanks drafted him in the 10th round, he was seen by Baseball America and others as borderline 2nd round talent.  Despite slipping to the 10th round based on a somewhat lackluster regular season (although he redeemed himself in the NCAA tournament) he was nevertheless regarded as a player who could go somewhere in the 2nd to 5th rounds; and

2. He flat-out dominated the Cape Cod Baseball League to the tune of a 1.77 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, .210 BAA and 44 K’s in 45.2 IP.

Why would you draft a player that you’re taking a flier on, let him pitch in the Cape Cod league and watch him dominate and then not sign him?  Presumably, the performance in the Cape should’ve solidified and justified the draft-day gamble on him and given the Yanks comfort that their flier was justfiied.

Instead, according to a response I got from Baseball America’s Jim Callis, the Yanks balked at Lyons’s $500K bonus demand and will let him go back to OSU for his senior season.  I find this very odd.  While I philosophically understand the need to create a budget and stick to it, I am surprised that $500K was the budget’s threshold.

It seems to me that Cashman and his draft team are operating backwards here.  $50M for Carl Pavano in 2005 was OK but 0.1% of that amount was too much to spend in 2009?  I grant that the attrition and failure rate for draftees is clearly high, yet I find it odd that the Yanks wouldn’t take a $500K chance on a young lefthanded arm.  After all, teams like the Orioles, Diamondbacks, A’s and Pirates are spending oodles of over-slot dollars for their later-round picks and international signings.  The Yanks can’t find $500K all of a sudden?  Huh?

-Posted by MJ

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Anyone else following the Mark Teixeira UZR debates today? BBTF has a nice summary on it.

As Yankees fans, what are your thoughts on all this?

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Via Jon Heyman -

Boston is 6-9 this month and 12-17 since the All-Star break, and is now in a fight to make the playoffs. The rival Yankees are too far in first (7 1/2 games) to be a concern. The Rangers are the real competition now, and Texas’ 7-2 record against the Red Sox gives them additional reason to doubt themselves.

Boston looks as vulnerable today as at any point since 2006.

“The second half has been a struggle for us,” Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said by phone Sunday night. “The only solace we can take is that we’ve played as poorly as we possibly can and still have a chance to get ourselves into October. We have to stabilize the back end of our rotation and hit better with runners in scoring position to do it, however.”

This is funny – as just this morning I was thinking to myself about how much this Yankees season is reminding me of 2006…when the Yanks were four games out of first on July 1st and then were eight games ahead in first place on August 31st.

New York went 34-21 during July and August in 2006 while Boston went 24-33 over those two months.

Let’s just hope that October 2009 doesn’t mirror October 2006 in Yankeeland – because, if it does, I would imagine that some may want to storm the South Bronx if happens and burn down the new castle.

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Again, courtesy of Baseball America, the Yanks have come to terms with their second round pick (JR Murphy).  He signed a healthy, $1.25M bonus.

-Posted by MJ

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According to Baseball America, the Yanks signed their first (Slade Heathcott) and fifth (Caleb Cotham) picks today.

Heathcott got $2.2M in signing bonus money and Cotham got a deal worth $675K.

-Posted by MJ

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The Yankees drafted Kevin Russo in the 20th round of the 2006 June Draft out of Baylor University. He’s a local kid from Long Island and he are his minor league stats, to date:

Year	Age  Tm		Lg	Lev	G   PA	BB SO	 BA   OBP  SLG
2006	21   Yankees	GULF	Rook	45  181	20 18	.273 .383 .400
2007	22   Tampa	FLOR	A_adv	109 414	15 66	.281 .311 .369
2008	23   Trenton	EL	AA	71  298	23 42	.307 .363 .416
2009	24   Scranton	IL	AAA	68  307	33 39	.328 .405 .415

You never hear much about Russo in terms of being a top Yankees prospect. But, the kid can handle the bat and get on-base. The problem is: He’s 24-years old now and plays second base. So, he has 26-year old Robinson Cano in front of him at the major league level and 22-year old Reegie Corona behind him at Double-A Trenton in the Yankees system. Seeing this, I wonder what the Yankees plans are for Russo – if any? Maybe it’s time to see if there’s a market for him, somewhere, and give a chance to play at the next level? If the Yanks do move him, and he does well, I won’t be shocked.

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Via Bob Klapisch:

This used to be a familiar ritual in the Yankee clubhouse: Joe Girardi marching into his office after a loss, his eyes burning lasers into the ground, refusing to acknowledge anyone around him, including his players.

The door would shut, a virtual No Trespassing sign would be posted and the manager would submerge into his own world, churning through the strategy that could’ve-would’ve-should’ve been better.

That was Girardi in 2008, overshadowed by Joe Torre’s legacy. He admits, “I made mistakes” in his rookie year in New York, which left Girardi with a less attractive signature of his own — too tightly wound for a 162-game season.

That was then, this is now. The Yankees say the vibe from the manager’s office has been unmistakably healthier this summer.

“Joe has definitely backed off, now it’s more like ‘just play the game,’ ” says Andy Pettitte. Whether it’s cause and effect or pure coincidence, Girardi’s evolution has been an integral part of the Yankees’ renaissance. They’ve become baseball’s hottest team, on the way to 95-plus wins, seemingly unstoppable — especially at home, where they’ve won 15 of their last 17 games.

Of course, it’s easy to say Girardi is a luckier and not necessarily a better manager than he was in ’08. He did, after all, inherit Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Who wouldn’t be mellower after adding three superstars in the same offseason?

But an uptight and overly anxious manager can still undermine the talent in his clubhouse. Why else would Sabathia have included an opt-out clause in his seven-year contract? He’d heard about the coup that took down Torre after 2007, heard that Girardi was trying (too hard) to be his own man. In fact, Sabathia had one question for GM Brian Cashman before deciding he could be a Yankee:

“What’s your clubhouse like?”

Turns out, the escape hatch won’t be necessary. Sabathia says he’s staying and goes out of his way to praise Girardi these days.

“I don’t know what it was like here last year, but to me, this is the best (clubhouse) chemistry I’ve ever seen,” Sabathia said. “People told me, ‘watch out in New York, it’s crazy playing there,’ but I love it. Joe has done a great job; this team is really close.”

Just the other day, watching another General Joe post-game press conference, I mentioned to someone “I remember the day, when, a manager only had to sit at a desk with all those microphones in front of him after a playoff game. Now it’s everyday. That’s crazy. Could you see Billy Martin doing that? Martin’s post-game conference was usually with a bottle of Jack Daniels.”

It’s too bad the game has changed – and that managers are now required to be P.R. spokesmen as much as handling the X’s and O’s. In any event, good to see Girardi has learned to deal with this better.

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What stands out the most in my mind, this past week, is that the Yankees went 5-2 in a week where they could have let down their guard after taking four in a row from the Red Sox. And, in the process, New York actually gained another game in their lead over Boston – and closed the week being in first place, now up by 7.5 games.

Now, at this junction, if the Yankees play just .500 baseball from here until the end of the season, then the Red Sox would have to win 31 of their remaining 45 games to pass them in the standings.

Can Boston play .689 baseball for the rest of the year? Maybe. But, then again, what are the odds of the Yankees playing just .500 at the same time?

Say the Yankees play .568 baseball for the rest of the season. (And, I think that’s doable. Basically, it’s winning 4 out of every 7 games.) Then the Red Sox would have to play .756 baseball from here until season end to catch them. (Now, that, I don’t think is doable.)

Boston is in a race…but it’s a race for the A.L. Wildcard. And, they have company there – with the Rangers and Rays also fighting for that playoff berth. (The Sox have 6 games left with the Rays this season too.)

Sure, I know…what about the Mets in 2007 and 2008? Sorry. That ain’t gonna happen in Yankeeland. And, if it does, and the Red Sox do end up catching the Yankees this season in the A.L. East…well…won’t that make 2004 seem like it was just a coming attraction?

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For those who don’t get the title of this one…it’s: Dolor en la rodilla de Godzilla…

Via the Sports Network:

New York Yankees designated hitter/outfielder Hideki Matsui had his swollen left knee drained Sunday and will be out indefinitely.

The team is hopeful that he will return to the lineup this week after missing the last two games with the injury. Matsui has battled knee injuries throughout the season.

Manager Joe Girardi said that Matsui could appear in the lineup as early as Tuesday, when the Yankees will play the middle game of a three-game set against Oakland.

The Yankees are 64-40, so far, this season, when Matsui has appeared in a game for them and 10-4 when he’s not in the line-up. What does this mean? Really, it means that Godzilla has only missed 14 games this season – which is amazing when you consider all those games in N.L. parks during interleague when he could not D.H. and his bum knee. Truly, Hideki has been a warrior this season. It will be interesting to see how many of the Yankees 44 games remaining this season that he will miss…let’s just hope it’s not too many.

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Joba Chamberlain has now made 23 starts this season, including this game, and has gone 5 innings or less in 8 of those contests. For those keeping score at home, that’s 35% of the time. So, basically, a little over a third of the time, Joba’s been “Jaret Wright” like this season. And, I mean the “Jaret Wright” who pitched for the Yankees in 2005 and 2006 – and not the one who pitched for the Indians in 1997.

And, then, in the seventh inning today, this game just got ugly for New York.

Oh, well, at least Derek Jeter set the all-time shortstop hits mark.

Other than the Chamberlain thing, not all that much to fret about here – the Yankees are still 7.5 games up on Boston even with this loss. (Thank you, Texas Rangers.)

Really, at this point, it’s almost just about playing .500 or better for the rest of the season, not having anyone get hurt, and working out some player kinks…like the Joba inconsistency matter. There’s little question that the Yanks are going to finish with 95-100 wins this season…and that should be more than enough to lock down an October berth. Yup, the dress is in the bag.

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On June 13th, in a loss against the Mets, Jose Veras threw his last pitch as a member of the New York Yankees.

Since June 14th, Yankees pitchers have thrown 496.6 IP and allowed an ERA of 3.52 – with the team going 39-16 over those 55 games.

Now, I know that getting rid of Jose Veras only helped in the sense that it was getting rid of Jose Veras…

…more so, I’m just making the point here that the Yankees pitchers have been great now for the last nine weeks.

From Opening Day to June 13th, the Yanks had a team ERA of 4.90 in 556.6 IP – with the team going 35-27 over those 62 games. Granted, a good chunk of that was Chien-Ming Wang allowing 33 ER in 21.3 IP during that span…

Still, pitching, my friends, it’s always about the pitching…

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Via Baseball-Reference.com, here’s some up-to-date 2009 month-by-month stats for Nick Swisher:

MONTH	G	PA	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
April	22	93	7	19	15	19	.312	.430	.714
May	27	105	3	10	19	29	.150	.311	.275
June	25	95	4	10	16	14	.253	.379	.506
July	24	88	3	15	12	20	.247	.352	.425
August	12	53	2	8	13	11	.263	.442	.421

As you can see, outside of the month of May, Swisher has been either “O.K.” or “very good” with the stick this season – with August being through the 15th of the month. Now, check out this split for Swisher:

Split	G   GS	PA  HR	RBI  BB	SO  BA	 OBP   SLG
Wins	71  67	285 16	49   57	53 .258	.410  .534
Losses	39  34	149  3	13   18	40 .214	.311  .365

The above are Swisher’s stats, to date, in games where the Yankees have won and lost. Clearly, when Nick doesn’t hit well, the Yankees don’t do well.

Lastly, here are Nick Swisher’s stats from 2005 – again, with 2009 being through last night:

Year	Age	Tm	PA	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	24	OAK	522	55	110	.236	.322	.446	.768
2006	25	OAK	672	97	152	.254	.372	.493	.864
2007	26	OAK	659	100	131	.262	.381	.455	.836
2008	27	CHW	588	82	135	.219	.332	.410	.743
2009	28	NYY	434	75	93	.242	.376	.473	.848

These show us that Swisher’s production in New York, so far this season, is right in line with what he did with Oakland from 2006 through 2007 – and much better than what he did with the White Sox last season.

I’m still uncomfortable, at times, with Nick Swisher’s defensive play and baserunning. And, I cannot stand his Kevin Millar/Jack Black/Bluto Blutarsky wannabe persona. But, at this junction, I must confess that he’s been an positive addition to the Yankees offense this year. And, there’s a case to be made that the team would not be where they are without him. Swisher will never be my favorite Yankee. But, I’m starting to appreciate him now…and more than even before…

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Yankees RCAA and RSAA stats through August 15th…
Via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia:

	BATTER		RCAA	PA		PITCHER		RSAA	BFP
1	Mark Teixeira	36	519	1	C.C. Sabathia	16	692
2	Johnny Damon	25	472	2	Mariano Rivera	14	200
3	Derek Jeter	21	523	3	A.J. Burnett	12	629
4	Alex Rodriguez	17	370	T4	J. Chamberlain	8	535
5	Hideki Matsui	15	371	T4	Alfredo Aceves	8	229
6	Robinson Cano	14	497	T4	Phil Hughes	8	285
7	Nick Swisher	12	434	7	Andy Pettitte	6	632
8	Jorge Posada	6	323	8	David Robertson	5	149
T9	Eric Hinske	3	40	9	Mark Melancon	2	48
T9	Jerry Hairston	3	30	10	Chad Gaudin	1	8
11	Brett Gardner	1	231	11	Nick Swisher	0	5
12	Xavier Nady	-1	29	T12	Edwar Ramirez	-1	86
13	Kevin Cash	-2	28	T12	Phil Coke	-1	199
T14	Ramiro Pena	-3	96	T12	Brian Bruney	-1	114
T14	Jose Molina	-3	85	15	Brett Tomko	-2	85
T14	Melky Cabrera	-3	387	16	J. Albaladejo	-3	117
T14	Angel Berroa	-3	24	17	Jose Veras	-4	118
18	Fran. Cervelli	-5	85	18	Sergio Mitre	-5	136
19	Cody Ransom	-7	86	19	Damaso Marte	-6	30
					20	An. Claggett	-9	23
					21	Chien-Ming Wang	-24	206

Man, if you take out those 395 batters faced this season by Sergio Mitre, Damaso Marte, Anthony Claggett and Chien-Ming Wang, then the Yankees pitching this season has been super. And, on the hitting side, check out Godzilla and A-Rod. A case can be made that Matsui’s bat this season, to date, has been just as valuable to the Yankees as Alex Rodriguez’ stick.

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Yanks caught some minor breaks in this one with bad Mariners’ defense and baserunning – along with at least one favorable umpire’s call on balls and strikes. Then again, the Yanks bullpen and defense was outstanding in this contest. Heck, the only negative thing about this win is that it probably means Sergio Mitre lives to see another day in the Yankees starting rotation.

New York is now an insane 23-6 since the All-Star break. And, they are 36-11 since June 24th (when Cashman went to Atlanta). Yes, that’s a winning percentage of .766 over the last 7 1/2 weeks. Apply that rate to a 162 game schedule and it’s 124 wins. One-hundred and twenty four wins?

This just in! There’s really little chance possible that a major league baseball team could play any better than the Yankees have been doing since June 24th.

Somebody has to get the whole skinny on what went down that day in Atlanta – because the Yankees were 38-32 before that (and five games out) – and not playing well before that team meeting with Cashman.

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Via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, here’s a fun way to look at the great sluggers in Yankees history. It’s the “All-Time Top 25″ for the Yankees, through last night’s game, in terms of HR/100 PA compared to the league average, with a minimum of 502 PA with the team:

	BATTER		DIFF  HR/100PA	LEAGUE	HR	PA
1	Babe Ruth	6.01	7.17	1.16	659	9197
2	Lou Gehrig	3.72	5.10	1.38	493	9660
3	Alex Rodriguez	3.30	6.10	2.80	229	3755
4	Roger Maris	3.29	5.84	2.55	203	3475
5	Reggie Jackson	3.19	5.32	2.13	144	2707
6	Mickey Mantle	3.16	5.41	2.24	536	9909
7	Bobby Bonds	3.13	5.11	1.99	32	626
8	Oscar Gamble	3.06	5.10	2.04	87	1707
9	Jim Spencer	3.04	5.18	2.14	45	869
10	Joe DiMaggio	3.01	4.71	1.70	361	7671
11	Mark Teixeira	2.87	5.84	2.96	30	514
12	Jason Giambi	2.86	5.66	2.80	209	3693
13	John Blanchard	2.72	5.30	2.57	64	1208
14	Steve Balboni	2.68	4.78	2.10	41	858
15	Charlie Keller	2.62	4.12	1.50	184	4466
16	Johnny Mize	2.59	4.52	1.93	44	973
17	Matt Nokes	2.49	4.70	2.21	71	1510
18	Kevin Maas	2.45	4.62	2.18	64	1384
19	Dar. Strawberry	2.36	5.26	2.91	41	779
20	Yogi Berra	2.19	4.29	2.09	358	8352
21	Jack Clark	2.18	4.38	2.21	27	616
22	Dan Pasqua	2.10	4.88	2.78	42	860
23	Gary Sheffield	2.10	4.98	2.89	76	1525
24	David Justice	2.09	5.03	2.94	38	756
25	Joe Gordon	2.04	3.63	1.59	153	4216

Hey, how ’bout that Jim Spencer?

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So, we’ve seen the 2009 Yankees for close to five months now. What do you think of them so far?

Are they like the 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 Yankees? Or, are they more like the 1980, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Yankees?

Or, is it too early to tell? If true, and if the 2009 Yankees do end up like the 1980, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Yankees, when it’s said and done, how would you feel about that?

Considering how well they’ve played so far this season, is it now a “must” for the Yankees to make the World Series this year to validate what they’ve done this year?

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Click here to read a very interesting item on former Yankee Marcus Thames over at B-R Blog & Stat of the Day.

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Did Andy Pettitte turn himself around in this game, or what? Anyone watching Pettitte in the first couple of innings never would have figured that he would end up going six, allowing only two runs, and whiffing ten in the process.

This is a huge win for me…actually, any time Pettitte wins, it’s huge…because you usually, now, have some combination of Mitre, Chamberlain and/or Gaudin following him the rotation. So, if the Yankees are ever going to have a four-game losing streak, it will probably start with a Pettitte loss…followed by Mitre, Chamberlain and Gaudin. And, that’s the only chance Boston has now, of getting back into this thing, is if the Yanks string together three or four losses in a row.

Good job Andy – and Bruney and Hughes too – keeping the game close until Tex’s big fly.

Side note from this game: Johnny Damon became the first player in more than 60 years to collect 600 hits for three different teams (Royals, Red Sox and Yankees). The others are Willie Keeler and Doc Cramer. That’s a cool stat.

And, on the YES coverage, Ken Singleton was talking about Derek Jeter being on the doorstep of becoming the player to have the most hits in history as a shortstop. I didn’t hear all of what he said, but, its sounded like Jeter was within a few hits of the record. But, I cannot verify that as of yet…did anyone else hear that and remember the details?

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Hey, if a fish can save Pittsburgh…via Tyler Kepner today…

[Alex] Rodriguez is a ghost in the clubhouse, at home and on the road, especially before games. He limits his availability almost exclusively to brief sessions with a group after games in which he has made an impact, good or bad. He does almost no one-on-one interviews, and nobody questions the rules.

Reporters had come to view Rodriguez as insincere, at best, over his first five seasons in New York. Telling outright lies — insisting he was still great friends with Derek Jeter, bragging to Katie Couric that he did not take steroids because he never felt overmatched — can have that effect.

Rodriguez’s early forays into image control were public-relations disasters. In 2005, he bragged about his work ethic to The Record of Hackensack, N.J., offending other players. In 2006, he whined about the glare of the spotlight in a Sports Illustrated cover story, coming off as an insecure loner.

Since [Spring Training this year], Rodriguez has relied much more on Jason Zillo, the Yankees’ media relations director, who is roughly Rodriguez’s age and understands the sports media better than the other advisers. Zillo was blunt with Rodriguez, telling him he was probably the only New York athlete to whom reporters wanted less access, not more.

The weeks Rodriguez spent recovering from his March 9 surgery in Vail, Colo., turned out to be a godsend. He concentrated on his recovery and let Zillo’s advice sink in. Teammates were thankful.

Funny, in March, it was the Yankees brass who told Alex to get his stuff together. And, now, Zillo gets the credit. Well, in any event, what do you think of the “new” A-Rod?

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Just for fun, even though it’s way too early to probably think about this, if the post-season started today, who would be on the Yankees playoff roster?

For sure, you know these players would be on it:

A.J. Burnett
Alex Rodriguez
Alfredo Aceves
Andy Pettitte
C.C. Sabathia
Derek Jeter
Hideki Matsui
Joba Chamberlain
Johnny Damon
Jorge Posada
Jose Molina
Mariano Rivera
Mark Teixeira
Melky Cabrera
Nick Swisher
Phil Coke
Philip Hughes
Robinson Cano

That leaves seven slots left. And, I would bet that five of those go to:

Jerry Hairston
Brett Gardner
Ramiro Pena
Eric Hinske
David Robertson

So, that leaves two spots left – with a bunch of pitchers to choose from:

Brian Bruney
Sergio Mitre
Mark Melancon
Damaso Marte
Chad Gaudin

Which two would you keep?

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Via George King -

Slade Heathcott and John Murphy have until Monday at midnight to decide what their baseball future will look like and there are signs it will be in pinstripes since progress is being made and the talk now concerns details.

Heathcott, the Yankees’ No. 1 pick and 29th player taken overall in the June draft out of Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas, has to decide between the Yankees and playing outfield for national champion LSU.

Murphy, a catcher taken in the second round (76th) out of the Pendleton School in Bradenton, Fla., has an offer to play for Miami.

MLB has preached to teams to stick to their slotting program or face possible fines. A year ago the 29th pick, Lonnie Chisenhall, a junior college shortstop taken by Cleveland, received in the area of $1.2 million. MLB has suggested teams cut 10 percent off of last year’s price for high-round picks.

However, the dynamics some times don’t apply to high school players.

According to sources progress is being made with details being discussed.

“We are working on it,” GM Brian Cashman said of getting the first two picks inked before the deadline. If the deals don’t get done the players aren’t eligible to sign with the Yankees and not eligible for the draft again until they complete three years at LSU and Miami, respectively. “We will wait and see.”

Having drafted high school pitcher Gerrit Cole in the first round (28th player picked) and Ole Miss pitcher Joseph Bittle in the second round (75th) last year and didn’t sign either has made Cashman cautious.

“We learned some hard lessons in the past,” Cashman said. “Until you cross the finish line, get them signed and passing a physical, you never know.”

Cole opted for UCLA and Bittle failed a physical.

Odds are that they will both sign with the Yanks, in time. LSU and Miami are wonderful schools for baseball. But, we’re talking about a ton of money here. The true issue is probably that the Yankees are over slot and MLB wants to make them wait until the last minute to announce the deals – so that it doesn’t impact what some other drafts picks are holding out for…

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The Yankees fanboy in me wants to say that Mark Teixeira is the 2009 A.L. MVP…because it sure feels like he’s the straw that’s been stirring the Yankees drink this season…at least to me.

But, then again, from April 6, 2009 to May 2, 2009, during a span of 21 games, Tex had a BA/OBA/SLG line of .182/.354/.338 in 99 PA.

And, from June 13, 2009 to July 8, 2009, during a span of 23 games, Tex had a BA/OBA/SLG line of .261/.370/.326 in 108 PA.

So, for about half the season, to date, Teixeira had zero pop – with a SLG under .340. Can a guy be the league MVP with something like that on his ledger?

What do you think?

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This one was pretty much over after three innings. CC and Godzilla, what can you say? Huge win for the Yankees here – coupled with Boston’s loss to the Tigers – means the Yankees only need to split their next six games and then, no matter what the Red Sox do between now and August 23rd, the Yankees will start their next homestand, on August 25th, in first place.

Think about that – if the Yankees can win just 3 of their next 6 games, even if the Red Sox go 9-0 in their next nine games, it’s a lock that New York will be in first place 12 days from now. Cool.

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Which Poker Face is best?

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