AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: June 2013

It feels strange picking "Best Of" awards after such a poor month for the Yankees.  Their 11-16 record was made even more depressing by how pitiful the offense became as players crashed back to regression earth or got re-injured, and the resulting lifelessness their games took on really started to test the patience of the fanbase. But believe it or not, there were a few bright, shiny moments and month-long displays of good baseball from a few guys, so to get some good vibes going in a new month where the boys are currently undefeated let's look back on those now.


Player of the Month- Brett Gardner

If you would have told me before the start of the season that Brett Gardner would be a 2-time defending POTM at any point this season, I would bet everything against.  But here he is, turning in an ever better repeat performance in June.  Gardner led the team in hits (35), runs (16), batting average (.330), SLUGGING PERCENTAGE (.509), wOBA (.378), wRC+ (138), and fWAR (1.3) last month, and was the only lineup regular to not fall down on his face at the plate.  He only stole 2 bases, but he made up for that with an impressive power display, more proof that Gardner has made a successful adjustment to his game at the plate in 2013.  Gardner is hands down the most important player on the Yankees right now.  They would have been worse off without him in June than without Cano.

Pitcher of the Month- Andy Pettitte

For as much time as I've spent researching and writing about how shaky he's been since coming off the DL, it shocks me that Pettitte was actually the team's best pitcher last month.  He didn't make as many starts as Kuroda or pitch as many innings as CC, but he was easily more valuable than both of them in the 31.0 innings he did pitch.  While his 4.83 ERA for the month wasn't great, Pettitte's 2.55 FIP was almost 2 full runs better than that of Carsten or Hirok and his xFIP was lower as well.  His 18.3% K rate was better than both of them and his BB numbers were comparable.  Pettitte's 1.0 fWAR for the month was at least 2 times better than the next closest pitcher on the staff, so maybe it really is as simple as him getting unlucky on BABIP (.337).  If an off-his-game Andy ranks as the team's best pitcher in a month, that makes me feel better about him moving forward.*

* (It also makes me realize how bad the pitching was last month too.)

Play of the Month- Vernon Wells gets a pinch hit, bases-clearing, 3-run double in the bottom of the 7th to give the Yankees the lead back in an eventual 7-5 win over Tampa- 6/22

A combination of timing, situation, and personnel involved makes this most unexpected moment the best of the sad month for the Yankees.  Zoilo Almonte had just put his fingerprints all over the left field job the day before and taken Wells' spot in the lineup, the Yankees had just watched their ace cough up a 3-1 lead and turn into a 5-3 deficit the inning before, and faced with a chance to cash in on his team's rally in the next inning Joe decided to go to the Absolute Zero cold Wells to get the big hit in place of Chris Stewart.  And Wells came through.  On a fastball.  To clear the bases, plating the go-ahead and eventual game-winning runs in the process.  Ya just can't predict baseball, Suzyn.

Game of the Month (Individual)- Phil Hughes throws 7 innings of 1-run ball (0 ER allowed) w/ 7 Ks in a 6-1 win over Seattle- 6/6

When Good Phil decides to show up, he can be pretty damn good this year.  At no time last month was that more evident than in his return outing against the Seattle Mariners.  The previous time out, Hughes only made it through 2/3 of an inning before giving up 7 ER and getting yanked at The Stadium.  He was lights out on the road at Safeco, giving up just 1 run in 7 dominant innings and an unearned run at that.  He attacked with his fastball and located it brilliantly to constantly work from ahead in the count and he generated 15 swinging strikes out of 70.  It was the best pitching performance of the month and once that, had Hughes not bounced back, might have gotten him removed from the rotation by now.

Game of the Month (Team)- 4-3 walk-off win with 4 solo HR over the Texas Rangers- 6/25

A fun little 1-day flashback to the powerful Yankee teams of recent memory and the always-ridiculous "too many homers" meme, this game was also the last time the Yankees won in June.  What made it even more fun was that they pulled it off largely against Yu Darvish, leading AL Cy Young candidate and strong candidate to start the All Star Game.  A complete game shutout by Darvish wouldn't have surprised me.  3 solo HR off him in 6 IP - 2 of them by Gardner and Jayson Nix - shocked the hell out of me, as did Ichiro's walk-off game winner.  Props to Kuroda for outdueling Darvish on the day and props to the bullpen aces for nailing down 2.1 scoreless innings to give Ichiro the opportunity.