Week in Review: Fade in the Stretch

Record for the Week: 3-4 (39 RA, 41 RS)
Overall: 77-52 (1st in AL East, 6.5 games ahead of Boston)

Player of the Week: Even in a short week for him (he only played 5 of 7 games) Bernie Williams deserves the honors for his monster Sunday performance--the best single-game performance of his career. Bernie has never had more total bases in one game, only bettered the 6 RBI he had on Sunday twice--each more than a decade ago. He only fell the triple shy of the cycle, and he had what some term a SuperCycle. Overall for the week, he hit .400/.500/.933in 18 PA. The runners-up? In a week with bad pitching for the Bombers, Chien Ming Wang stood out with a quality start, two runs in seven innings in the Yankees' win in Seattle. Johnny Damon (.370/452/.667) and Derek Jeter (.333/.412/.600) both hit two homers on the week.

Dregs of the Week: Alex Rodriguez had a viral infection and an otherwise miserable West Coast trip, "hitting" .125/.160/.250; other Yanks who didn't like the left coast are Craig Wilson (.211/.250/.263) and Melky Cabrera (.217/.308/.217). But the Dregs award this week...can we give it to the Yankee bullpen as a whole? After Monday's game, they really had a hard time of it, allowing 17 runs in 20 innings, overall. They were worked hard, and it showed. If we were forced to point fingers, it would be fair to say that Ron Villone and Kyle Farnsworth had bad weeks. Maybe.

Story of the Week: Twenty days, twenty-one games, 11-10 record. Usually, this would be bad news. But in this case, the Yankees' lead in the AL East grew by 4.5 games, while the team was just skating over .500. Not a bad bit of work , in three weeks.

The team's tired, and with good reason. This was a brutal stretch for a very veteran team. The pitching staff's bread and butter, Mike Mussina, went on the DL midway through this marathon. A-Rod got sick. Giambi finished the weekend with dehydration and "body cramps" whatever that is. Heck, even Carl Pavano got injured, and he wasn't even there. What a numbnut...

Anyway, after a well-earned day of rest, the Yankees return to the Stadium to finish out the month with the Detroit Tigers--like the Angels and White Sox, possible playoff opponents should the Bombers make the postseason. Given the sad-sack "messages" sent by dropping six of nine to those two teams this month, it's pretty important that the Yanks show they can beat a contender other than the Red Sox.