Weekly Metropolitan Baseball Report

New York Yankees

Last Week: The Yanks looked like they might gain some momentum after winning their last two in Cleveland, but then Detroit swept them at the Stadium. Over the weekend though, the Yankees took out brooms of their own, outscoring the Mariners 19 – 4 in a tidy three-game sweep. In other words, it was another up and down week for the Yankees, who thus far this season have tended to alternate constantly between short winning streaks and losing streaks.

Overall: The Yanks are just 16 – 16, yet they are only 2.5 games behind first place Boston.

Hitting: The Yankees have been slightly above-average when it comes to hitting. They are 12th in homers and average, and 13th in runs scored.

Pitching: The pitching rotation is decent up top (Wang has been stellar, and Pettitte and Mussina have been decent), but the Yanks need to do something about the bottom of their rotation. Ian Kennedy was sent to Triple A, and Hughes is on the disabled list and was scuffling well before he was put on the DL. Darrell Rasner’s solid start on Sunday provides hope, but it remains to be seen if this bottom of the rotation will be able to keep the Yankees in games.

Coming Up: 3 at home against Cleveland, and then 3 in Detroit. This should be tough for the Yankees, especially because they will be playing without Rodriguez and Posada. A .500 record this week would probably be a gift at this point.

The Weekly Metropolitan Baseball Report

New York Mets

Last Week: The New York Mets played 2 against Pittsburgh, winning one and getting stomped in the other. Then after an off day Thursday, they won a weekend series against the first place Diamondbacks in Arizona.

Overall: The Mets are 16 – 13, just half a game out of first place, which is really about as much as they could possibly expect given how poorly some of their players are doing.

Offense: The Mets are currently 19th in the big leagues in runs scored. Not too difficult to understand why given that they’re 25th in both batting average and home runs. In particular, the team needs better production from the heart of the order. The 4 and 5 hitters Beltran and Delgado are both hitting under .220. Delgado is getting a little better, but neither have really turned it on yet.

Pitching: Santana and Maine have both been very good, but the rest of the rotation is questionable. Oliver Perez, after an excellent season last year, is having control issues again. He’s walked 17 in his last 4 starts. Mike Pelfrey has also struggled. In his last 3 starts, the 24-year-old Pelfrey has given up 14 earned runs in 15 and a third innings, and has walked 10 over that stretch.  The Mets clearly can’t wait to get Pedro back.

Coming Up: 3 in Los Angeles, a rest day, and then 3 at home against the Reds. The Mets have a very tough task against red-hot LA, but things should get easier when the last place Reds visit Shea.