August Recap

This is Why They're Hot

-Derek Jeter finished the month of August with a .342 average and a .382 on base percentage.

-Bobby Abreu matches Jeter's August average and raised him a .405 on base percentage. He had a 5-5 game against Baltimore. You'd think he needs a new contract or something.

-Xavier Nady finished August with a .304 average, 6 homeruns and 19 runs driven in. One highlight was his 4-5 game against the Angels where he hit a homerun and drove in 6.

-Johnny Damon batted .304 with 4 homeruns, but also swiped 10 bags. You would think that with a .386 on base percentage from their lead off guy the Yankees would score some more runs, but then you'd be wrong.

This is Why They're Not

-A-Rod finished the month of August with a .243 average and 16 RBI's, 5 of which came in a single game against Kansas City. He grounded into 11 double plays after only grounding into 4 coming into August.

-Giambi hit 8 homeruns which is pretty good, but he batted .232 in that time. He struck out 4 times in a single game against Toronto.

-Pudge. Its no secret he's been struggling, but at .196 with 2 homeruns and 2 RBI's I'm sure he's way below what the Yankees expected. He was good against the Angels however going 4-7 in two games with a homerun and 3 runs scored.

-Matsui hasn't quite returned as strong as the Yankees would hope. Although he's gotten some timely hits, he batted .186 with a .271 on base percentage.

Blame the Offense!

Mike Mussina went 3-0 in August with a 2.93 ERA with 30 strikeouts and 6 walks. He threw 5 quality starts, 2 of which the Yankee offense could not back up.

Blame the Pitching!

-Pettitte went 1-3 with a 5.84 ERA in August throwing 3 quality starts. He struck out 26 in that time and walked 13. He had one game where he was getting squeezed by the homeplate umpire and that clearly effected him, but he came back yesterday to similar results. And you guys were mad at Ponson.

-Sydney Ponson also went 1-3, but managed to keep his ERA to a mere 5.29. That's the best August ERA of all the starters not named Mussina, and who pitched more than 2 games. Some of his pitching problems may be a result of his striking out 12 while walking 14. You can't do that.

-Darrel Rasner may not be in the rotation next season. In the month of August the Razz went 0-1 with a 5.52 ERA. He seems to cruise right along and then completely fall apart in an inning.

Get the Hardy Boys on This Mystery

The Yankees played under .500 baseball finishing the month of August with 13 wins and 15 losses. The Yankees have not had a lossing August in 11 seasons. The last time the Yankees had a losing record in August was 1996, Torre's first year. Since then, this team has always had a stronger second half. This year? Not so much.