The Yankees had a surprising month in July. New faces began to arrive and those that had struggled in the first half began to turn things around — but then as the month came to its conclusion they had a sequence of defeats. Go figure! Let’s see who did what at the plate:
The Yankees continue to change their roster around. Here’s an update on what has happened since the All-Star break.
There seemed no real possibility that the Yankees’ season could become more complicated by injury than it already had been. But somehow they managed it……
The Yankees, struggling to stay in contention to the extent that it is now as easy for them to win their division as it is for them to capture a wild card booth, are not making the task easy for themselves. And their injury situation is becoming more and more complex. Let’s see what happened amongst the pitchers in June.
The Yankees endured a miserable month in June with a win/loss line of 12-15 and so many batters were below or just above the Mendoza line that it was sometimes difficult to know where their next win was coming from. Even then though they sometimes hit a hot streak and managed to keep in contention. In a close American League East, it is difficult to know what might happen, particularly if they can come up with a couple of key trades prior to the deadline.
The Yankees have made quite a few moves during June and as the end of the month approaches I’ll try to summarise them here.
The Yankees continued to need to re-jig their starting rotation and still had problems filling the last spot or two in their bullpen. Add this to their on-going struggles with the bat and this was always going to be a difficult month and that’s just how it proved.
The Yankees didn’t have the month they’d dreamed of in May but given their extensive injuries (particular to starting pitchers) and continuing power hitting woes, it was about as good as it could have been. They came out of the month with a .500 record (14 wins, 14 losses) which kept them in contention for the wild card whilst letting Toronto open up a lead at the head of the American League East.
More injury problems for the Yankees. Carlos Beltran, who had been listed as day-to-day, went to the 15-day disabled list.
The Yankees lost Shawn Kelley to the disabled list, to add to their pitching woes. He is suffering with stiffness in his back and will be unavailable until the 28th of May at the earliest.
twilightdawning 