The Yankees are 12-8 in the their last 20 games, a .600 winning percentage. For most teams, even for the Yankees, that would usually be considered a very successful record. Why, then, does it seem like they have been slacking? First, the Yankees have mostly played better than .600 this year. In every April, June and July, they were winning more often. Only in May did they slip, and just slightly, to .552. Last month, they went 19-7. If you go 19-7 often enough, folks will start comparing you to the 1927 or 1998 Yankees. In contrast to July’s dominance, in their last ten games, the Yankees are 4-6, which is not just winning less often, it’s also not winning. They haven’t won more than two games in a row since the third week of July. But for two games in Toronto (starts

Arizona Diamondbacks
Stephen Drew: You hear the shortstop brought up in trade rumors from time to time. The problem with J.D. Drew’s little brother is that with a trade from the generous Chase Field he will disappear. This year, he’s hitting .291/.372/.464 at home, but only .259/.323/.367 on the road. His career home/road split is .288/.353/.481 at Chase, but only .253/.305/.402 on the road.

Chris Snyder: In the offseason, I talked about him being a good add for the Yankees, and he still would be one given that he is signed through 2012—though he can be bought out for that last year. He would be able to augment Jorge Posada, or spell him when he’s only hitting, and perhaps hang around after Posada’s contract ends in 2011 to tutor (and provide competition for)

THE SLUMP!

Can we call what the Yankees are going through right now, with the Yankees pushing past four runs just once in the last seven games a slump? Sure we can, because it has gone on a lot longer than that. After hitting .286/.367/.452 in April and May and scoring an average of 5.7 runs per game, they dropped off to .245/.333/.401 and 4.8 runs per game in June. It wasn’t just the Mariners or the six games played without the designated hitter in NL parks. The Yankees didn’t hit much in the first half of the month, then slid off as the days went on.

You can pick a half-dozen culprits. Brett Gardner (.383/.472/.533) and Robinson Cano (.333/.398/.510) had good months. Mark Teixeira was about average for an AL first baseman, which isn’t saying much this year. Everyone

Instead of fretting too much about what was a very bad weekend, let’s look on the bright side for a change. Francisco Cervelli has an amazing, nigh-unprecedented ability: everything his bat touches turns into a hit. His nickname shouldn’t be Frankie, it should be “King Midas.” King Midas Cervelli is batting .354 overall and .403 on balls in play. This is clearly the supernatural at work.

I’ve observed before that Cervelli’s Minor League track record was both limited and not terribly impressive. The native of Venezuela hit just .273/.367/.380 in 221 games, his training period having been attenuated by injuries and call-ups. The on-base percentage suggested he knew a little something about the strike zone, but not in the Ted Williams sense of knowing something

You can’t argue with a 4-2 season-opening road-trip. The Yankees have to earn their way through a tough early schedule, and so far they’re doing it, hitting and pitching well against two of the best teams in baseball. They’ve seen Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey, David Price, Wade Davis and James Shields. There isn’t a pushover in the bunch, in fact the opposite—it wouldn’t surprise if in three months five of the six were on the All-Star team. If the Yankees can average six runs a game of offense against these guys, what happens when they get to Kansas City?

Of course, it helps to be taking swings off of the Rays’ bullpen, which again looks desperate. You have to feel for former Yankee Randy Choate, who is a fringy pitcher at the best of times

As I wrote yesterday, Jorge Posada’s lack of mobility is going to be an issue all season long. That doesn’t mean it’s going to hurt the Yankees the way it did in Game No. 1, and arguably the bigger problem was Chan Ho Park anyway. Nonetheless, judging by Buster Olney’s latest, Posada has already been identified as Yankees’ enemy No. 1:

Last year, we saw that Posada's struggles to catch the ball eventually became part of the reason Jose Molina was in the lineup as the catcher for A.J. Burnett. We will see, in the days ahead, how Posada's ability to catch impacts the ways Joe Girardi sets his lineup. Francisco Cervelli, Posada's backup, is viewed as a strong defensive catcher, and Girardi -- a former catcher -- will recognize, before others, all the value in a

Is it yet time to call up Mark Melancon?

In fairness to Chan Ho Park, not only is it too early for me to say “I told you so” on that particular signing, but the debacle of Opening Night had multiple authors. These can be separated into two groups, “likely transient” and “likely permanent:"

Likely Transient
• CC Sabathia’s lack of location.
• Chan Ho Park’s lack of location/nervous overthrowing.

Likely Permanent
• Brett Gardner’s weak arm.
• Curtis Granderson’s vulnerability to left-handers
• Jorge Posada chasing balls to the backstop.
• Joba Chamberlain being wild and hittable.

Of the second list, Gardner’s range should compensate for his arm. Granderson will eventually be treated like a platoon player in

In 1989, Rangers manager Bobby Valentine employed an unorthodox batting order. He led off centerfielder Cecil Espy, whose main skill was being fast. His second hitter was usually shortstop Scott Fletcher, who was an exemplar of the traditional number-two type. He didn’t hit much, but he drew a few walks, was tough to strike out, and if he wasn’t fast, he wasn’t slow either. Rafael Palmiero, not yet a power-hitter (he would hit eight home runs that year) batted third until Harold Baines came over at the trade deadline. Ruben Sierra, then 23, batted fourth every day and had the best season of his career.

In the fifth spot, you might have expected that Valentine would have used Pete Incaviglia, his 25-year-old, slugging leftfielder. Sure, Pete struck out like crazy; having

COLD TOMMY JOHN HAS GOT ME ON THE RUN
Twins closer Joe Nathan has apparently torn his ulnar collateral ligament and may require Tommy John surgery. Should Nathan go out for the year, this would obviously be a loss to the Twins and to baseball in general -- as far as regular season play goes, Nathan is right up there with Mariano Rivera. Since 2004, Rivera has a 1.90 ERA and 243 saves, Nathan a 1.87 ERA and 246 saves.

Nathan's apparent demise is an important moment for Yankees fans. As the core of the current team ages, the same questions keep arising: How badly will the eventual passing of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera affect the Yankees? The answer is likely to be, respectively, a lot, maybe less than you would think given the team's depth at the position, and possibly not