Since the Red Sox left the Bronx on June 9th, the Yankees have striven to put the ugly three game sweep at the hands of their archrivals in the review mirror. The Yankees have a record winning record of 7-2 since the Red Sox left town.

As their nickname the Bronx Bombers suggests, the Yankees have hit the long ball and trounced opposing teams on the scoreboard since the Red Sox left town. In four out of the nine games, the Yankees have scored at least 9 runs, one in which they scored 11 and two in which they scored 12.

First, the Yankees took three of four games against the Indians, who where in first place at the time.  Then, the Yankees swept the impressive American League Champion Texas Rangers, who have one of the best offences in baseball with a lineup that includes, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton. On back-to-back nights, against the Rangers, the Yankees scored 12 runs.

Tonight (June 19), the Yankees will face the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of the series—a nationally televised game on ESPN. The Yankees rebounded from a loss to the cubs on Friday, taking yesterdays game with a score of 4-3.  If the Yankees win tonight they will have a record of 8-2 in the past 10 games.

In comparison to the rest of June, the Yankees split stats for the past seven days have significantly improved. In the past seven days the Yankees have recorded 83 hits, before this they only had 66 hits in the month of June. During past seven days, the Yankees have also recorded more than half their home runs for the month of June; the Yankees have a total of 21 home runs in the month of June, with 11 of those coming in the past 7 days.

Additionally to these improved offensive categories for the Yankees over the past seven days, are the categories of, runs (R), runs batted in (RBI), batting average (BA), on base-percentage (OBP), and slugging percentage (SLG).

For the month of June, the Yankees have recorded more than half their runs in the past seven days, scoring 45, which brings the run total for the month to 83; the team had only 38 hits for the month of June before this. The Yankees have also recorded more than half their RBI’s for the month of June in the past seven days; the RBI total in the past seven days is 44 compared to just 37 previously, bringing the total for the month of June to 81.

The Yankees have had a batting average of .311 in the past seven days compared with .260 for the rest of June.  Similarly, the Yankees have had an on base-percentage of .403 and slugging percentage of .498 in the past seven days; compare this with the rest of June and the Yankees had an on base-percentage of .345 and a slugging percentage of  .451.

All in all, since the Red Sox left down on June 9th, the Yankees have been playing as well as possible, especially for a team marred by injury after injury during the past couple of weeks.  First it was Joba Chamberlain, who was diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament on June 9th (the day the Red Sox left town), then it was Bartolo Colon, leaving a game against the Cleveland Indians on June 11 with a strained hamstring, then it was the blow of all blows to the Yankees roster, beloved captain Derek Jeter leaving June 13 game against the Indians with a strained calf.

Despite their injuries, the Yankees have been able to play as good as they have all year in the past week. It could be a blessing in disguise that the Red Sox came to town; the Yankees have appeared to be playing with a chip on their shoulder since being swept by the Red Sox.

If anything, the Yankees fortitude over the past two weeks, between both the shellacking from the Red Sox and the three devastating injuries, proves that the 2011 Yankees ball club has a tremendous amount of fight. The resilience of the ball club over the past two weeks, demonstrates that the Yankees have a veteran group of players that know how to fight when the going gets tough. The veterans will have to continue to fight if the Yankees are going to keep pace with the Red Sox, especially with the costly injuries that the team has recently had.

Richard Paul Kane / Shutterstock.com

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About the author

Henry Hyde