AB4AR takes another step towards blog legitimacy with the first ever handing out of the AB4AR "Best of The Month" awards. Of course baseball is a team sport, and it's rare that individual plays or players can be pointed to as the sole reason for a victory or a loss, but within that team concept there are always individual performances worth recognizing, and that's what this monthly feature will do. For as consistently inconsistent as the Yankees were in April, and with as many problem areas as the team seemingly has right now, the best of the month was still very, very good.
And the winners are...
Player of The Month: Derek Jeter
When you're a 37-year-old shortstop less than one calendar year removed from having people seriously question whether or not your days as an above-average contributor were over and you come out and put up numbers like Jeter did in the season's first month, that pretty much wraps up any discussion for who the best everyday player on the team was. Jeter finished ST hot and that hot streak has carried right through the month of April. His slash line currently sits at .389/.433/.579, good for a .442 wOBA and 182 wRC+. For the sake of comparison, those numbers were .250/.311/.272, .261, 56 after April 2011. Jeter currently leads the team in average, hits, OBP, OPS, wOBA, wRC+, and WAR, and he's top 3 in runs scored, HR, RBI, and SLG.
Jeter hasn't just bounced back from his 2010-2011 struggles, he's leaped back to the front of the line in terms of SS production. He's hitting the ball well to all fields again, especially right field, where he's driven the ball with authority since Opening Day. He's got 10 XBH already, an elevated BB rate (7.6%) compared to last season, and a K rate (11.4%) that would be a new career low if the season ended today. Jeter's production has been all the more important when you consider how poorly the middle of the order has hit so far, and it's more than fair to say that his bat won the team a few games this month. Whatever Jeter did during his DL stint in '11 has carried over to the start of this season. He's seeing the ball incredibly well right now, driving pitches all over the yard, and has played in every game.
Pitcher of The Month: CC Sabathia
This was a bit of a tough pick to make, as the majority of the Yankee starters have been anywhere from so-so to awful in the season's first month and Hiroki Kuroda's line looks much better after his start last night. And I don't like to praise relievers too much for a job well done when their sample size is even smaller than that of the starters. Thanks to CC's stellar outing on Sunday, though, the case was closed on who the best pitcher was in April. Looking closer at CC's April numbers, he's actually pitching better than it appears at first glance, early struggles and all. His K/9 (9.68)and BB/9 (2.29) for the month are better than his 2011 totals, and he's averaging over 7 IP/per start just as he did last season.
CC's early fastball command problems are still hurting his numbers a bit, as they led to a lot of early baserunners and runs for the opposition. But even then, the fact that he was able to battle through and give his team 6 innings and a chance to win both games as opposed to folding and being yanked early a la Phil or Freddy is more valuable than the results, and was the deciding factor when you compare CC's 2 poor outings to Kuroda's. And since the command has improved over his last 3 starts of the month, we've started to see the run numbers normalize a bit. His HR rate is still high right now thanks to 5 allowed in 5 starts, but his 2.82 xFIP suggests we'll see his numbers improve even more once the long balls stabilize. Looking left to right at his tripleslash (4.58/3.40/2.82) gives you a much better idea of how well CC pitched in April.
Play of The Month: Walk-Off Passed Ball Win- 4/27
Sure there were loud home runs and great defensive plays, but this play stood out to me for the bizarre way that it went down, the collection of small, smart baseball plays that were included in it, and the fact that it won the game for the Yankees in the bottom of the 9th. Jeter got things started by drawing a 5-pitch walk after watching the Detroit pitcher struggle a bit with his fastball command against Russell Martin, then smartly took 3rd base when ball 4 to the next batter, Curtis Granderson, skittered away from the catcher. When the fateful 2-0 pitch to The Horse eluded Alex Avila again, A-Rod, from his position with a great view of the play, instantly waved Jeter home from 3rd. Jeter took off and beat the throw out at the plate with a good slide. For a sequence that didn't involve anybody taking the bat off their shoulders, there was a lot of smart baseball and heads-up thinking involved and the Yankees were rewarded for playing the game hard and smart with a win.
Game of The Month (Individual): Curtis Granderson's 5-5, 3 HR day- 4/19
There are good days at the plate, there are great days at the plate, and there are historic days at the plate. C-Grand's perfect 5-5, 3 HR day against the Twins on April 19th was a historic day. It was the first time anybody had hit 3 HR in a game in the new Yankee Stadium, the first time a Yankee had hit 3 HR in a game since A-Rod did it in 2010 against KC, the first time in Yankee history that a player hit 3 HR in a 5-5 day at the plate, and only the 20th time in Yankee history that a player hit 3 HR in a game. That's some pretty elite company to be a part of, and because Curtis hit the 3 homers in his first 3 ABs, he got the rare opportunity to crack a 4th and join an even more prestigious club. It wasn't in the cards that day, but that still doesn't diminish how good Curtis' day was. He raised his OPS by almost 300 points (.775 to 1.056) in one game; his seasonal batting line went from .208/.321/.458 to .283/.377/.679; his WPA for that one game was .367. With all due respect to Kanye, THAT shit cray. Curtis' early HR also got the Yankees back into the game after going down 4-0, so it's fair to say that his contributions helped settle Phil Hughes and set the stage for the win.
Game of The Month (Team): 15-9 comeback win at Bahhston- 4/21
This game was the official coming out party for Freddy Garcia's sucktitude this year, and things looked grimmed. It was 9-0 Fraud Sawx after 5 innings, and 9-1 after 6. The Yankees had all but conceded defeat, with David Phelps out on the mound just trying to soak up innings and keep the bullpen fresh for the next game. But then Felix Doubront left the game after 6 strong innings and the floodgates opened.
Vicente Padilla started the top of the 7th and, after striking out Martin to start the inning, allowed 5 consecutive Yankees to reach base, the biggest blow being a grand slam off the bat of Swish to make it a 9-5 game. Matt Albers replaced Padilla and promptly gave up a 3-R homer to Teix after A-Rod reached on an error and it was 9-8. Albers was lifted for Franklin Morales, who managed to get out of the 7th, but was removed for Alfredo Aceves after giving up a leadoff single to Eduardo Nunez in the 8th. The beating that Aceves took after entering the game can only be described as hellacious. Walk, double, intentional walk, walk, ground-rule double, intentional walk, and when the dust settled it was 12-9 Yankees. Aceves didn't record an out, and had more runs charged to him after the following relievers let 3 more insurance runs cross the plate for the eventual 15-9 final score.
Everything about this comeback was awesome. The string of hits, the continued patience in the face of a crumbling Fraud Sawx pitching staff, Teix clubbing an opposite field HR from the LEFT SIDE of the plate, Swish's chest-pounding reaction to his double in the 8th, Bobby V tipping his cap to a booing Fenway crowd, the fact that it took place against the Yankees' biggest rival, at their home field, on the weekend celebrating the stadium's 100th anniversary. 7 consecutive runners reached base in the 7th inning, and then 7 more in the 8th. You just don't see stuff like that in baseball very often.
It didn't quite jump start the Yankee offense in the way we would have liked to see, but it was about as sweet a regular season victory as you can get in baseball, made even sweeter by the fact that the big damage came against a former Yankee (sorry, Ace) and the hated Fraud Sawx Nation.
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