Month In Review: September, 2006

Not much time to chat, just some awards:

Record for the Month: 18-11 (132 RA, 180 RS)

Player of the Month: Robinson Cano actually won the AL Player of the Month Award with a .373/.383/.664 performance, seven homers, and a team-leading 11 doubles and 28 RBI. We're not going to disagree. Trailing him slightly was the man who finished just ahead of him in the batting race, Derek Jeter, who finished up strong, batting .368/.419/.500 in September. Sadly, neither Yankee's surge was good enough to catch Joe Mauer (.329/.437/.506 in September, .347/.429/.507 overall) for the batting title.

Slightly lower down, because of less playing time, are Alex Rodriguez (.358/.465/.691, team-leading eight homers and 16 walks) and Jorge Posada (.316/.396/.646, 6 homers). On the pitching side of the ledger, Mark Bruney made the postseason roster on the strength of 16 strikeouts and only one run allowed in 14 innings--even if he did walk 10 batters; Scott Proctor put up nice numbers (1.74 ERA) while once again leading the relievers in innings pitched; Chien Ming Wang had a 3-1 record and a 3.48 ERA; Jaret Wright was impressive in his three starts--2-0, 2.95 ERA.

Dregs of the Month: Twenty-seven. That's Ron Villone's ERA for the month of September. He registered only six innings pitched over nine appearances, and he allowed 14 hits, nine walks, three homers, and 18 runs scored. That completely overshadows Cory Lidle (6.38 ERA) and Octavio Dotel (10.80 ERA). Heck, Lidle even had a winning record for the month!

On the batting side, Johnny Damon (.205/.286/.307) and Melky Cabrera (.247/.346/.316) dragged down their numbers for the year, and Bernie Williams didn't finish strong (.236/.300/.327). Jason Giambi's wrist limited his playing time and his hitting (.192/.364/.308).

After the playoffs are over, I intend to sort through the mess of weekly and monthly reviews to figure out what happened this season, give out some final grades. No story for this month, just another AL East title.