How Was June?

June showed us a lot about the Yankees. Despite missing Phil Hughes and Rafael Soriano the entire month… Derek Jeter, Bartolo Colon and Joba Chamberlain for half the month… The Yankees are in a very favorable position. They’ve gone 16-8 thus far and have gained 4.5 games on Boston.

Oh yeah, I don’t foresee Boston dominating the Yankees like they did throughout the first half, either. New York has shown that they’re not the 40 year old men half the city thought they were after a six game losing streak.

Boston and Philadelphia are the only other two teams that could truly compete with New York. Too bad Boston already won the world series.

that they overcame the losses of Colon and Joba like it never even happened is one thing. That they became a better team with Jeter not there is even better and hopefully El Capitan find it in his brain that once this 3000 hit crap is over, he takes it upon himself to tell Skeltor to slide his out making arse down the lineup

We all knew that this team was going to hit. Cano is starting to swing like his normal self again. Teixeira’s power is about as good as it has ever been (he’s getting 40+ this year). Granderson dominating the way he has has been a pleasant surprise.

And A-Rod has been about as hot and clutch as he could be in the month of June. No matter what the pitch is, how hard it’s thrown or where it is, he’s right on it, he’s hitting it and he’s hitting it with authority. Don’t worry about the home run total, which I admit is a little low for him at this point. It he keeps hitting the ball this way, the home runs are going to come. He’s too strong and too good a hitter not to hit home runs- thats why he has over 600 of them. But the average, OBP and RBI have all gone way up for him in the month of June and I look for that to continue. Put that with his excellent defense at 3B, and he is one hot home run streak away from being in the MVP conversation.

I think the best part about all this is the starting pitching. Remember the Yankees missed out on Lee, didn’t want Greinke, and signed Colon and Garcia who everybody thought were scrubs who couldn’t have any success. Plus, a good number of people thought Burnett would repeat 2010. But Burnett is having a nice rebound year, Nova keeps getting better and Garcia and Colon have each given more than anybody could have expected and pitched very well. Colon has looked dominant. Thats the best part. And because of this I don’t think the Yankees necessarily need to make any trades for a starter. If they could get a significant upgrade at a great price in the rotation, then go for it. But Cashman doesn’t need to rush and make himself a bad trade to fix a problem, because in the rotation none exist right now. And help is on the way with Hughes and Colon on the way back.

Great month- I look for the success to continue. And I’m still really excited to see Jeter get #3000.

and a current record of 19-8 for the month, what’s not to like?

Nothing like a .325/.441/.675 month to help things along.

Yankees signed RHP Logan Kensing to a minor league contract.

Kensing was pitching with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League. The 28-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched professionally since 2009 in the Nationals’ organization. He underwent elbow surgery twice last year and missed the entire season.

…………wow

The sweep by Boston was the low point of the month so far, and the loss of Colon and Joba were devastating blows. That said, we weathered the storm and are still in first place, which shows a lot of character for this team. We’ll be getting Colon and Hughes back soon, and we’ve still got Jesus lurking in AAA, so I feel things can only get better from here.