July in Review: Movin' on Up

Watched Bobby Abreu's debut last night. Three questions:

1) Why is his glove pink? Is it a leftover from the Mother's Day breast cancer awareness promotion?

2) How long did it take the haters to show up? I'm not even talking about at the Stadium--though it was funny that during his first at bat folks were still busy booing Alex Rodriguez's strikeout--but suddenly we're getting all these "We'd rather have Sheffield than Abreu" stories. It'd be nice if these guys spoke up prior to the trade.

3) Sheff at first? I have to admit I admire the attitude, even if I doubt it'll come off. I'm happy with the Abreu acquisition, but that doesn't reflect on my feelings for Sheffield--just my doubts about what he'll be able to give the team, post-wrist injury.

With that out of the way, your July Awards:

Record for July: 16-9 (137 RA, 145 RS)

Player of the Month: Derek Jeter (.412/.431/.569, team leading 19 RBI & 6 SB). Runners-up: Chien Ming Wang (4-1, 3.03 ERA, averaging over 7 innings per start); Kyle Farnsworth (1 run, 11 Ks in 10.3 IP); Johnny Damon (.329/.392/.500 in 20 games); Melky (.313/.358/.475, team-leading 19 runs scored); and (huge asterisk) Alex Rodriguez (.295/.374/.526, 6 HR, 19 RBI--to go with 5 errors and 27 Ks).

Dregs of the Month: Three-way tie -- Andy Phillips (.165/.208/.275 in 25 games); Miguel Cairo (.253/.256/.320 in 23 games); and Bubba Crosby (.152/.176/.273 in 33 AB spread out over 20 games) each blew chances given a void to fill. Runners-up: When we talk about the Yankees' pitching in July, it's easy to pick on Sidney Ponson (10.00 ERA) Shawn Chacon (13.50 ERA) TJ Beam (15.63 ERA) and Kris Wilson (8.64). Aside from Chacon, not much was expected from them. More disappointing are Mike Myers (9.64), Jaret Wright (6.43) and Randy Johnson (5.68).