Halfway Home

Yesterday, the Yankees played game number 81 of the season, which means they are halfway through the 162 game season. So we're going to break down the stats and share our thoughts on how the Yankees are shaping up this season.

Record: 48-33, 2nd place AL East, 1.0 GB
On pace for: 96-66
Last year at this time: 44-37, 3rd place AL East, 5.0 GB

Splits

Home/Road
Split	W	L	WP
Home	25	15	.625
Road	22	18	.550
Month by Month
Split	W	L	WP
April	12	10	.545
May	17	11	.607
June	15	11	.577
July	3	1	.750

Team Leaders
Offense
Batting Average: Derek Jeter .316
Home Runs: Mark Teixeira 20
RBIs: Teixeira 61
Runs: Johnny Damon 61

Pitching
Wins: Andy Pettitte 8
ERA: A.J. Burnett 3.83 (Nick Swisher, with a 0.00 ERA, does not have enough innings to qualify)
Strikeouts: Burnett 99
Saves: Mariano Rivera (duh) 21

Grades:
Starting Rotation

B
Well some of the stats are skewed because of the poor (and that's putting it lightly) pitching of Wang, this pitching staff can, and needs to, do better. Sabathia and Burnett are a combined 14-9. That's good, but not great. And when you invest $30 million into the two pitchers that are going to anchor your rotation you want better than a .608 winning percentage. The key is that the starters need to be more consistent.

Bullpen:

C+
While the 'pen has been solid lately, it has yet to be seen if it can stay that way. Again, as with the starters, the key is consistency. Mo struggled a little early, but has returned to his dominant self. Behind that, however, are a lot of question marks. With Damaso Marte on the DL, the 8th inning role fell to Brian Bruney, who got hurt, came back when he wasn't ready, got hurt again, then struggled. Phil Coke has seems to have dropped the "Choke" nickname, but if he gets overused, he'll crumble like Scott Proctor did. Adding Hughes's arm to the arsenal will definately help, but how long can they get away with him relieving when his future is as a starter?


Offense:

B+
The offense has been good, when it is whole. I have to say that because for a while there when Nady, Posada and A-Rod were injured the bottom of the lineup was Cabrera, Ramiro Pena, and Francisco Cervelli. Not exactly the makings of a Murderer's Row. And when A-Rod was out and later stuggling because of the fatigue, Teixeira did not get anything decent to hit, and his numbers dipped, too. Despite all that, they still lead the AL in homeruns (how could they not? I could hit a homerun to right field in Yankee Stadium. Ok, I take that back, but still, it's a hitters park.) They are second in the league in runs scored and on-base percentage, and also 5th in stolen bases, which is another dimension they've added to their game to help them win close ballgames.