So the regular baseball season is over and my most recent trip to the Bronx seems quite a while ago. The playoffs continue without the Yankees for the first time since 1993 (we would have won it all in ’94 if it wasn’t for that damn strike). My hopes are pinned on the LA Dodgers principally because of the Joe Torre link.

Anyway time to survey the second half of September.

 

 

New York Yankees – Batting – Month – September

Name                   AB  R  H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB    BA  SLG  

Cabrera, Melky         13  3  6   1  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  0  .462  .462 

Miranda, Juan          10  2  4   1  1  0  0  2  4  0  1  0  .400  .500 

Jeter, Derek           76 15 26   9  1  0  3 12 11  2  0  2  .342  .474 

Betemit, Wilson        30  4  9   5  5  0  1  0  9  0  0  0  .300  .567 

Cano, Robinson         94 13 27  12  8  0  1  2 12  0  2  1  .287  .404 

Gardner, Brett         53  9 15   7  3  1  0  2 11  1  0  6  .283  .377 

Rodriguez, Alex        79 16 22  23  2  0  6 13 20  0  1  2  .278  .532 

Abreu, Bobby           87 19 24  17  4  1  5 14 16  0  1  7  .276  .517 

Ransom, Cody           38  6 10   3  2  0  2  6 11  1  0  0  .263  .474 

Moeller, Chad          16  3  4   1  1  0  0  1  1  0  1  0  .250  .313 

Damon, Johnny          88 16 22  14  1  1  6  9 10  0  0  4  .250  .489 

Rodriguez, Ivan        37  5  9   1  3  0  0  1  5  0  0  3  .243  .324 

Matsui, Hideki         43  2 10   5  2  0  0  2 11  0  0  0  .233  .279 

Giambi, Jason          84 11 19  12  6  0  4 12 25  0  2  0  .226  .440 

Nady, Xavier          103 11 23  17  4  0  4  7 16  0  1  1  .223  .379 

Molina, Jose           28  3  4   3  0  0  1  1 11  1  1  0  .143  .250 

Cervelli, Francisco     5  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  3  0  0  0  .000  .000 

 

Pluses

Derek Jeter. Jeter saw the season out with his strongest month at the end of a season where he seemed a little jaded. No such problems in September when .342 BA on the month edged him over .300 for the season

Brett Gardner. Gardner also saved his best to last. He was a big threat on the base paths and with .283 on the month was able to use that threat more often. Little in the walks column though.

Robinson Cano. Cano was so inconsistent this year. The benching that Girardi dealt him was too late in the season but at least it upped his personal endeavours.

Minuses

Hideki Matsui. We gained nothing from delaying Matsui’s surgery. His power dissipated and he looked distracted at the plate. Hope his surgery doesn’t hinder his role in April or we will have really lost.

Jason Giambi. Still produced something in the power columns and had patience at the plate but .226 BA was way lower than acceptable for what is hopefully his last month in pinstripes.

Xavier Nady. Spent too many nights at DH in September and had by far his worst months in pinstripes.

Surprises

Melky Cabrera. All the signs are that he may well be done in the Bronx but with a strong final month with Scranton and then his .462 when recalled by the Yankees, it is hard to see why they don’t intend to persevere. Defensively he is strong and even after a poor year, he still outhit Gardner.

Juan Miranda. I saw his debut in Pinstripes and seemed to be the only guy in the Stadium who knew who he was. Given that, I didn’t expect him to be in the lineup that night or this season or to hit as well as he did. Likely to end up in a trade in the close season but he has, at least, increased his value.

Wilson Betemit. He would have been on my list of players that I wanted to see shipped out of the Bronx at the beginning of the year but he has had an excellent second half of the season and should be allowed to come back in a bench role next year.