The Yankee Clipper: Another Series Win In Beantown

Even though it feels like the Yankees haven't really gotten hot, they have started at an all-time pace. They won their first give series to match the 1926 squad for the best mark in team history. Coming into the series, they had won eight of their first nine series. The last time they had done that was 2003. Now, after taking two of three in Boston, the Yankees have won nine out of their first ten series. The only two Yankees teams to do that? The 1939 team (11 of 12) and the 1928 team (14 of 15). And at 21-9, the Yankees are off to one of the best 30-game starts in the Derek Jeter Era (in 1998 and 2003, the team went 23-7 to begin both seasons). Last year after 30 games the Yankees were 14-16, 5.5 games out of first, and A-Rod had just returned from the DL the game before. So this team is a little bit ahead of last year's pace. Let's talk a little bit about the series that was in Fenway Park this past weekend:

1. Mark Teixeira and A-Rod started to wake up. It was only a matter of time before the middle of the Yankees lineup got rolling. It was this time last year when A-Rod came off the DL so it's really a year since they were this cold. Now they're heating up. Tex had 3 home runs on Saturday (though the last one was off of an outfielder) and A-Rod had a .556/.615/1.000 mark for the weekend at the plate and seemed to look more comfortable at the plate. A-Rod's home run yesterday was number 586 for his career, tying Frank Robinson on the all-time home run list. ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand says this could signal more A-Bombs ahead. Moshe at TYU says they were getting plenty of consistent offense even without those guys. That was, until Robinson Cano stopped hitting in May.
2. The "Sore Four" expands. The Yankees injuries are starting to pile up. Curtis Granderson is out a month. Chan Ho Park hasn't been seen in a month. Nick Johnson is on the DL. Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera are battling issues. Jorge Posada missed a week. A-Rod missed a few games. Alfredo Aceves left Saturday's game with an injury. Robinson Cano left Friday's game with an injury. The wild card for the Yankees was always their health with a veteran team. They've gotten great contributions from guys like Francisco Cervelli and Sergio Mitre helping to fill in for others. But the Yankees need to work on getting guys healthy ASAP and the Post's Joel Sherman writes that these injuries should give the Yankees pause before committing too many more years to older players this off-season.

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Stat(s) of the Day and A-Rod's Hip

Via Tyler Kepner, we have our stats of the day:

1) Courtesy of Elias, even including this past week, the Yankees are 11-6 this season in games started by pitchers who had never faced them before. Those starters, collectively, are 5-6 with a 5.08 E.R.A.

2) This one comes from Tom Verducci: Alex Rodriguez has the same road slugging percentage as the San Diego Padres’ David Eckstein. That is, away from the tight confines of Yankee Stadium, A-Rod’s slugging percentage is a meager .373.

Now that's not as bad as I thought. Kepner has the reason why:

When the Yankees lose to a pitcher few fans have heard of – Fernando Nieve and Craig Stammen, come on down – it naturally captures the attention of fans and reporters. But when they beat a pitcher like that, it’s no big deal.

And how about explaining A-Rod?

As for Rodriguez, who is 3 for his last 34 and hitting .212, he’s long overdue for his first game off since joining the team on May 8. Even Manager Joe Girardi admitted he probably should have rested him sooner. I spoke with A-Rod’s hip surgeon, Dr. Marc Philippon, and he agreed with the rest.

“Indirectly, he is still recovering from surgery, from a muscle standpoint,” Philippon said. “I think it’s important to give him some time off to allow the muscles to recover. His hip is doing very well, but he has to make sure his balance and his coordination are not affected by muscle fatigue. I would support giving him a little bit of a break, because it’s pretty exceptional to come back and play so many games in a row.”

Hold on. Hold on. I'm sure Tyler Kepner is a great investigative reporter. But you're telling me that I could write blog post after blog post about how A-Rod needs a rest, Tyler Kepner could speak to A-Rod's hip surgeon who said that "I think it's important to give him some time off to allow the muscles to recover", and yet the Yankees continued to play him every day without a rest? The Yankees couldn't have called his surgeon and gotten the same advice or watched him on the field and see that he was gassed? Was it worth leaving him in for all these games when he was hurting the team? ESPN's Stephania Bell predicted he'd be out 4 months and 2 months later he's supposedly in tip-top shape to be playing every day? Am I missing something here?

Update: I mean if Apple CEO Steve Jobs can have a liver transplant and return to work in two months, maybe anything is possible. Jeez

Think A-Rod Makes A Difference To Tex?

Mark Teixeira before Alex Rodriguez came off the DL (and before his talk with Tino): 25 games, .198 average, 5 HRs, 15 RBIs, 5 multi-hit games

Mark Teixeira after Alex Rodrguiez came off the DL (May 8th): 11 games, .341 average, 6 HRs, 15 RBIs, 4 multi-hit games

Yeah...and there have been 4 straight games with A-Bombs from A-Rod. They're a pretty good 3-4 combo.