Back Where They Belong -- On Top

Yankee Bats Heat Up in May

By: Akino Yamashita
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
June 2, 2004

© 2004 Yankees Talk Shop @ ezboard.com

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Now that the month of May (and a third of the regular season) is over, it seems that the Yankees have gotten over the scare the Red Sox gave them in the head-to-head matchups in April, and are firing on all cylinders again. In a turnaround that proves the old adage that you just can't predict baseball, the Yankees bats first came to life in the April 27-29 series against Oakland, beating the trio of Hudson, Mulder and Zito to sweep the A's at Yankee Stadium. The three-game sweep started an eight-game winning streak as the Yankees swept the Royals, then went on the road to beat Oakland twice on the road.

While the Yankees came back to earth somewhat in the middle of May after the winning streak was broken on May 6th against the A's, they still won the next three series of games played, winning two out of three at Seattle, two out of three against Anaheim at home, and two out of three against Seattle at home. After losing a road series against the Texas Rangers, the Yankees swept Baltimore and won two out of three against the Devil Rays, putting up impressive offensive numbers while doing so. The Yankees beat up the Oriole pitching like a set of drums, scoring a total 41 runs in the three-game sweep at Baltimore, and averaged about 6.5 runs per game for the month of May -- 2 runs higher than the April average of 4.5 runs per game.

As might have been expected from the off-season acquisitions, the Yankees' offense so far has been driven by power. Currently, the Yankees lead MLB with 72 home runs and 273 RBIs. Although the team BA at this point is in the middle of the pack at .267, the slugging percentage is fourth in MLB at .458, while the OBP is third at .359. Alex Rodriguez, who had somewhat of a slow start to his first season in New York, has warmed up enough now to be tied for third in the league with twelve home runs. However, the offense is based on more than the longball, and there have been a number of contributors when it comes to RBIs. Hideki Matsui leads the Yankees in RBIs with 32, but Jorge Posada has 29 RBIs, while Gary Sheffield has 29. Surprisingly, even Derek Jeter, who seems to be finally coming out of his extended slump, has 26 RBIs, despite having a .233 BA.

Key Yankees can also be found high up in the rankings for the OPS number (which represents OBP + SLG, and is thought by many to be a better way to evaluate offensive performance than the traditional Triple Crown stats of BA, RBIs, and HRs). Jorge Posada ranks third in OPS at 1.052, while Hideki Matsui is sixth with .980, and A-Rod
is 12th at .918.

The high offensive output has been enough to make up for some hiccups by the starting pitching, though Kevin Brown and Jose Vasquez have, for the most part, not needed it. Brown, who has an ERA of 3.59 and a 6-1 record, has given up 3 runs or less in most of his starts. Vasquez has a 5-4 record but has a solid 3.88 ERA. Mike Mussina appears to have regained his form in May, winning five straight starts (including the June 1 start) and giving up three runs or less in four of those wins, lowering his ERA to 4.96.

The main reason for concern in the Yankee rotation, as usual, is at the back end. Jose Contreras had a strong start in Texas in his first outing back after his demotion to Tampa, giving up only one run in six innings, and had a solid start in Baltimore, giving up three runs. However, tonight in Yankee Stadium against the Orioles, Contreras didn't even last an inning, being pulled after giving up five runs in 2/3 innings (though two Yankee errors meant that only one of the runs was earned). Fortunately, the Yankees rallied to win 6-5, thanks to home runs by Sheffield and Jeter, some good examples of small ball such as Ruben Sierra's go-ahead RBI fly, and a shutout performance by the bullpen.

At this point, the best that can be said about Contreras might be that he is consistently inconsistent. He might be a .500 pitcher at best this season, and is a definite fifth starter behind Jon Lieber, who has a 4-2 record and 4.43 ERA, and has pitched well for the most part after starting his first Yankee game on May 1st. At this rate, don't expect Contreras to get a chance to even sniff the pitcher's mound during the playoffs -- especially if the Yankees match up against the Red Sox again.

So, one-third of the way into the regular season, the Yankees seem to be sitting pretty, though the neck-to-neck race with Boston may last well into the fall months. The Red Sox record was barely over .500 in May, but they have kept up with the Yankees despite the extended DL stints of both Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon, and losing Bill Mueller for five to six weeks as well.

While the Yankees and the Red Sox will not meet head-to-head again until June 29th, that next New York-Boston series may be a pivotal one. Let's just put it this way; if you thought the first two series had a "playoff atmosphere", you ain't seen nothing yet.