While the Yanks still have one more game to play in June, I'm ready to take a look at whether or not they lived up to expectations.
The cliche says 'pound the weak teams and split with the contenders.' So I've set the line for contenders at .550 and asked for .600 baseball against the guys below the line and .500 baseball above the line.
In April I saw a weak schedule and wanted a romp. Instead of 15-8 the Yanks went 12-10 with a rain out. Disappointing.
May was encouraging, a tougher schedule, so I asked for 16-13 but was rewarded with 17-12. All seemed right with the world.
June, though. Oh, June.
I wanted 8-3 against the combo of Cleveland, Seatle, Washington, Texas, and Atlanta, a .700 WP considering anything less than a sweep of the Nationals would be embarrassing. But following embarrassment, the Yanks have to beat Seattle tomorrow just to finish 7-4.
And then against the contenders. 15 games against the Mets, Marlins, Rays and Red Sox.
Thank goodness for the Mets. The Yanks took 2 of 3 from the Rays only to drop all three to the Sox. Luis Castillo's fielding and Johann Santana's worst outing in history allowed the Yanks another 2 of 3. Then the Marlins came on strong, crippling the Yanks' offense. But again, the Mets picked us up- how sweep it is. We managed to finish 8 and 7 against contenders for the month, despite the Red Sox sweep.
I asked for 16-10, and I got 14-11 with a game to play. June is definitely a month that was even tougher than expected. And that's before Billy Mays died.
Tomorrow we'll take a look at what to expect from July.