Week In Review: Treading Water

Record for the Week: 3-2
Overall Record: 9-8

Story of the Week: Was there a story for last week? The Yanks battled the middle of the division, Toronto and Baltimore. Unlike last year, Baltimore isn't making exciting noises; for all the noise the Blue Jays made in the off-season, some of their improvements have not yet taken, and might not any time soon. A.J. Burnett is making a return trip to the DL, which is looking like a re-run of a few of Burnett's more frustrating seasons with the Marlins. Against this competition, the Yanks finished just above .500, losing what seemed to be a particularly winnable game on Friday. It's not the end of the world, but it's not much progress either, given that the Red Sox are 12-7, and Curt Schilling looks like his reconstructed ankle is all better now. On to the awards.

Player of the Week: A tie between Jason Giambi (.286/.500/1.000, 3 HR in 20 PA) and Derek Jeter (.471/.591/.824, 2 3B in 22 PA). Mike Mussina and Shawn Chacon did well in their respective starts this past week, winning easily--although Chacon's good start was paired with a poor relief outing.

Dregs of the Week: Anemic doesn't begin to describe Johnny Damon's efforts this past week: .136/.208/.136 in 24 PA. He still managed to play good defense, however. Not sure that Hideki Matsui can say the same, with a performance (.200/.273/.300, including the last out in Friday's game) that was rather feeble. Chien Ming Wang went from a good start last week, to being a source of concern again against the Orioles.

The C/P Ratio: STOP THE PRESSES! This week's Ratio was 1/11(!), bringing the overall C/P Ratio to 15/18. The good news is, that it seems that either a) Miguel Cairo is suffering from an injury which is keeping him out of action, b) Cairo drank the last of Joe Torre's green tea, and wouldn't go to the store to buy more, so he's in the dog house, or c) Torre has realized that with Carlos Pena in AAA last week, he needs to get a real idea of what Andy Phillips can do. The bad news is, Phillips only managed two singles and a walk in his 11 plate appearances--although Pena isn't doing much better (.200/.429/.267 in 21 PA) with the Clippers. Phillips isn't getting a fair shake, but he needs to do more with the opportunities he's been given, fair or not.