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When interleague play becomes an everyday occurrence next year, we’ll no longer be able to use the phrase I’m about to below:

Man, are the Yankees going to miss interleague play or what?

The two-plus weeks of AL vs. NL action has always created some strange bedfellows, and while the Yankees have always been great against the NL, this year, the interleague stretch as been the catalyst for their surge to the top…and not just by their own hand.

When everyone woke up on June 8, Tampa Bay had just reclaimed first place from the Yankees, who were 32-25 and a half-game out in the AL East. Baltimore was hot on their heels a half-game behind that mark, and even the last-place Red Sox were a .500 team that was just five games out.

Cut to 17 days later, and after a 12-3 stretch

“I have made no phone calls to any general managers about making an acquisition,” Cashman said. “I’d prefer to ride what we’ve got.”

Those were the words of Brian Cashman, who spoke to Jack Curry on Wednesday about the state of the team and how the “panic” of the early season has given way to mid-season success.

But as Curry even says, those words were uttered before the team found out that Brett Gardner will in fact be out until after the All-Star break, the bone bruise and muscle strain in his right elbow needing at least three more weeks or rest.

In the same interview, though, Cashman said that “You can’t make moves until you know what you don’t have,” and added that “I expect Gardner to come back.”

When the Yankees selected pitcher Ty Hensley in the first round of Major League Baseball Draft on Monday night, his hometown rang more of a bell in my head than his actual name.

That’s not because Hensley isn’t a talented pitcher – he was the Gatorade High School Player of the Year in Oklahoma last year, after all – but more because in compiling our draft coverage over the last couple weeks, I’ve seen the name “Edmond Santa Fe High School” many, many times.

Santa Fe High School was the alma mater of Brandon Weeden, the former Oklahoma State and current Cleveland Browns quarterback that the Yankees drafted with their top pick in 2002. Although he’s now on the road to becoming an NFL star, a decade ago Weeden was an 18-year-old pitcher with

The Major League Baseball Draft is a fickle, fickle beast, and there’s no bigger reminder of that than Derek Jeter – in both “good” terms and “bad.”

As Jon Lane expounded upon earlier today, June 1, 2012 marks the 20^th anniversary of the Yankees selecting Jeter No. 6 overall in the 1992 MLB Draft. The Captain is going to Cooperstown, no doubt, and it’s a common chuckle to look back at the five guys taken ahead of him and wonder how that could’ve happened; sure, four of the five reached the Majors, and No. 1 overall Phil Nevin (.270-208 HR-790 RBI) had a pretty good 14-year baseball career…but none of them are DEREK FREAKIN’ JETER.

Keep that in mind come Monday, because you’ll probably hear a lot of names called that you

The Yankees have played 44 games through Wednesday night, roughly 27 percent of their 2012 schedule. And, for all the coverage their struggles, both offensively and on the mound, have garnered this year, the Bombers sit at 23-21, just a half-game behind the cutoff for a postseason berth.

But on this day off, let’s forget about that for a moment and accentuate the positive.

Taking a page from the annual MLB Awards, here are the five men that would win (at least in this blogger’s mind) the Yankees’ “First Quarter Awards” in a handful of categories.

MVP: Derek Jeter. Sure, Curtis Granderson leads the team in homers, and Raul Ibanez has been a revelation in the middle of the lineup. But The Captain has made it happen all year, and has carried over his stellar

Mark Teixeira, who has been bothered all season by a respiratory ailment, had most of the weekend off, his only action coming when he pinch-hit for Eric Chavez in the ninth inning of Sunday’s loss. So, it is of course possible that he is feeling a lot better and will be back in the lineup on Monday against Kansas City as he expects.

But what if he’s not?

“I’m not 100 percent, obviously,” Teixeira said following Sunday's game, where he reached on an error in his lone at-bat of the weekend. “I think at this point, I know I have to deal with it for a while. The days off definitely helped and we’ll see how it goes. We’re going to keep managing it. I’m not worried. I played a month and a half with it and hopefully time is going to make

For all those who continue to second-guess the Michael Pineda trade now that Jose Campos is also hurt, I’d like to direct you to a nugget of information I was reminded of during a random discussion with colleague Jon Lane the other day that should, hopefully once and for all, prove that you can’t judge a trade in its initial aftermath.

I present to you Exhibit A: Nicholas Thompson Swisher.

Chances are, you love Nick Swisher. He certainly loves the fans (and playing in the Big Apple), and he’s been a key contributor to the Yankees since the day he put on pinstripes. And right now, the Chicago White Sox brass are probably still kicking themselves for both ends of the trades that both brought him to and sent him away from the Windy City.

But in 2008, it was Yankees fans

One of Joe Girardi’s biggest goals this season was to rest all of his regulars, especially Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, more regularly. In setting that goal, Girardi touted the ability of Eduardo Nunez to be a super-utility player, one who could fill in at multiple positions without the team missing a beat.

But after just 31 games and a handful of costly errors all around the diamond by Nunez, what must Girardi be thinking as he watches that ability often become a liability?

Nunez had another rough game on Thursday, this time at third base, where he made errors in consecutive innings that accounted for both of the Rays’ runs. Yes, the Yankees recovered to win 5-2 and those were the only two runs the Rays scored, but the miscues put CC Sabathia in an unnecessary hole early

It’s a topic that Yankees fans began debating the minute Brett Gardner went on the disabled list, revisited when Nick Swisher left Sunday’s game, and belabored every time a fly ball came Eduardo Nunez’ way over the last two days:

Is it time for the Yankees to bite the bullet and bring in another outfielder?

Swisher doesn’t think his tight hamstring will keep him out of action for too long, but Joe Girardi said earlier this week that Swish may not be fully available until next Tuesday – a full eight days after he first sat out. That’s a lengthy absence, but with Brett Gardner eligible for activation from the DL on Thursday, it was thought that the Yankees could make do.

However, news came out on Wednesday that  Girardi thinks it is “doubtful”