AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: July 2012

July was a tough month for the Yankees.  The hot streak they were on in June started to peter out a bit before the All Star break, and came to a screeching halt not too long after it.  Their last trip out to Oakland wasn't nearly as fruitful as the one in May, and since then the Yankees have played more bad baseball than good and experienced more bad luck than good.  Some of the feast-or-famine problems that hurt the offense earlier in the season came back, as did the inconsistencies of the starting rotation.  And don't even get me started on the continuing injury problems that only seem to affect the biggest names on the roster.

Despite all of that, the Yankee still found themselves comfortably in the lead in the AL East, and still find themselves comfortably out front today.  They're getting by with the guys they have, trying to establish some consistency in the lineup with some new faces and without some key missing ones, and one more strong 15-20 game stretch might be all they need to lock up the division.  It's a few days later than I planned on doing it, but let's take a look back at the best of July for the Bombers.

The Garbage Man Returneth

12 IP, 11 H, 3 ER, 9 K

Not a bad week of work for Freddy Garcia, huh?  And against 2 AL East rivals no less.  Good thing the Yankees didn't kick him to the curb when they had the chance.  I think it's safe to say that Freddy has gone back from being just a pile of garbage to The Garbage Man.

Why The Hell Is Freddy Garcia Still On The Roster?

(I think your time has come, fella.  Courtesy of The AP)

Real talk for a minute, why the hell is Freddy Garcia still a Yankee?  Can anybody explain it to me?  What's the point?  He's been equally useless as a starter and a reliever this season (5.56 FIP as starter, 4.50 as reliever) and currently brings no value to the table as a bullpen option.  Since being demoted after his start on April 28th, he's worked 9.1 innings in relief in 5 appearances.  He went 10 days in early May without seeing any game action, and currently hasn't pitched since May 21st.  None of his appearances have been in games where the Yankees were winning, and only 2 of them have been in games where they were within 3 runs.  Both of those times Garcia allowed more runs to score, effectively killing any real chance of a Yankee comeback in the 8th or 9th.  On the 12-man pitching staff, he's firmly entrenched in the 12th spot, and is damn close to being 13th.