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The Pinstripe Pulse Edition 5: Offense

Tracking the efforts of the Yankees' offense over the past month.

Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

The Pinstripe Pulse has not slowed to a halt. It lives!

This edition of the Pinstripe Pulse will be a bit different than the others since there is a full month of games to recap from August 24th through September 26th. The "last period" will cover the 16 games from August 24th through September 9th. "This period" will cover 15 games since then, from September 11th through September 26th (there was an off-day on September 10th).

At the start of the "last period," the New York Yankees were 72-52, leading the American League East by 2.5 games over the Tampa Bay Rays and four games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. During the period through September 9th, they went a disappointing 7-9, taking a three-game road series against the collapsing Cleveland Indians before dropping three consecutive series to the division rival Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles, and Rays. The first two series losses were even worse since they came in their own confines of Yankee Stadium. Ultimately, the Yankees finished squandering the 10-game lead they once held in the AL East on July 18th, but they never completely fell out of first place at the end of any day. They closed the period in a four-game split with the Orioles at Camden Yards and now stood at 79-61, a mere game ahead of Baltimore and two ahead of the Rays. The offense scored 4.5 runs per game in this period, although that figure was skewed by a 13-run outburst in the final game; otherwise, it was a slog of 3.9 runs per game.

The Yankees began "this period" with a loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, but they rebounded to take the series with their first consecutive-game win streak in nearly a month. They returned to Yankee Stadium for a nine-game homestand with the Rays, Blue Jays, and the Wild Card-leading Oakland Athletics. It was a tremendous success, as they sandwiched a seven-game winning streak between losses in the first and last games. The Yankees regained sole possession of first place over the Orioles at the start of the winning streak on September 15th, and they have not let it go since then, though Baltimore's hot pace has never kept them more than a game and a half behind. The Yankees closed out this 11-4 period by taking two out of three from the Minnesota Twins at Target Field to move to 90-65, 25 games over .500 and a game behind the Texas Rangers for the best record in the AL. The offense scored exactly 5 runs per game in this period.

Player Last Period
(8/24-9/9)
This Period
(9/10-9/26)
Thoughts
Russell Martin, C Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Hit .304/.373/.478 in first period before recent slump.
Nick Swisher, 1B/RF Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Nearly a 200-point improvement in slugging over two periods.
Robinson Cano, 2B Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Led team with 4 homers last period; just 5 XBH in second.
Derek Jeter, SS Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium
Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium The hits kept coming for the Cap, but the power vanished..
Alex Rodriguez, 3B Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Returned from injury strong (.615 SLG) but then fell to .283.
Ichiro Suzuki, LF/RF Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Pinstripe_pulse_ruth_medium Hitting .417/.440/.625 since 9/10. Long live the Ichiro Show.
Curtis Granderson, CF Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium There's value in the 8 homers, but not much in the .178 AVG.
Raul Ibanez, "LF/RF" Pinstripe_pulse_flaherty_medium Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Streaky much? Went 2-for-35, then 9-for-25 with 3 homers.
Eric Chavez, 3B/1B Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Magic from early in A-Rod's DL stint wore off, but recovered.
Mark Teixeira, 1B Pinstripe_pulse_nj_medium Pinstripe_pulse_nj_medium Wasn't hitting much (1-for-12) prior to calf injury.
Andruw Jones, OF Pinstripe_pulse_flaherty_medium Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Still poor, but .450 OBP and a homer show some signs of life.
Jayson Nix, INF Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Infield versatility is probably ensuring his playoff roster spot.
Steve Pearce, 1B Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Pinstripe_pulse_cut_medium
Hit .140 in 12-game stint before recent cut.
Chris Stewart, C Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium "Stewie" did have a double! So there's that.
Eduardo Nunez, SS/3B Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium .207 bat hasn't been worth his glove of stone.
Chris Dickerson, OF Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium
Pinstripe_pulse_up_medium Underused. 4-for-12 with 2 homers since call-up.
Casey McGehee, INF Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Pinstripe_pulse_down_medium Hitless, but ability to play third forced Pearce out instead.
Brett Gardner, OF Pinstripe_pulse_nj_medium Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Just returned yesterday for one inning of defense.
Francisco Cervelli, C
Melky Mesa, OF
Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Pinstripe_pulse_equal_medium Both have appeared in just one game without a PA.

Legend

Pinstripe_pulse_ruth_medium
Players hitting at "Ruthian" levels are honored with, of course, the Babe.
Pinstripe_pulse_flaherty_medium
Players slumping are dis-honored with punchless former backup catcher John Flaherty.
Pinstripe_pulse_nj_medium
Injured players are indicated by the perpetually-hurt Nick Johnson, who unfortunately just hurt himself posing for this picture.

Here are the players' statistics from the past two periods (Click for a better view).

Statistics from August 24-September 9:Pinstripe_pulse-_aug_24-sep_9_medium

Statistics from September 11-26:

Pinstripe_pulse-_sep_11-26_medium