As discussed earlier, the Yanks’ starting pitching hasn’t been as good in June as they were in May. Unfortunately, the offense has been similarly disappointing. They’ve seen sizable drops in batting average and slugging percentage, predictably leading to a drop in runs per game. With the pitching malfunctioning, the Yanks have been in a tough spot all month.

(The actual drop in runs scored per game isn’t all that pronounced — about a quarter run per game. However, that’s propped up by the killing they laid on the Mets last Sunday. If they had scored five runs instead of 15 that game their runs/game would be below five in June. This is why we need to look deeper than runs per game.)

As is usually the culprit in a case of an underperforming offense, the Yanks’ team BABIP has taken a dive in June. After posting BABIPs of .302 and .298 in April and May, resulting in batting averages of .281 and .282, the Yanks have stumbled to .246 in June. The team batting average has gone along with it, settling at .245 after Thursday’s embarrassment. That explains a lot. The Yankees, it appears, have hit one of those stretches where almost no one is hitting the ball hard.

What the Yankees have done well despite it all is to continue to get on base, and continue to hit the ball hard. Their team OBP stands at .344, just .005 lower than May. They’ve also seen 4 pitches per plate appearance, higher than their marks in April and May. So while they’re not hitting the ball as well, they’re still making outs at about the same rate. They’re not scoring runs, of course, because while walks will avoid outs, it takes hits to get guys home. The Yankees just haven’t done that in June. Given the low BABIP, though, we can expect that to correct itself soon enough.

One might see the Yanks’ slugging percentage in June, .435, and note that it’s far lower than April, .473, and May, .497. However, it’s not as bad as it looks. Slugging percentage is based on batting average, so if a team is getting fewer hits in general they’re going to see a drop in SLG. It appears, though, that the Yankees are simply hitting fewer singles in June. The team’s isolated power — subtracting out the singles to get a hold of true power numbers — is .190 in June. It was .215 in May and .192 in April (and the .215 ISO is in part because A-Rod and Tex went nuts with the homers that month, and that wasn’t likely to continue). So they’re still hitting the ball hard. They’re just not getting hits as frequently.

If all this doesn’t spell s-l-u-m-p, I don’t know what does. These kinds of things happen over the course of a baseball season. It can’t continue much longer and it’s not something to get too worked up over. The worst part of it is the timing. The hitters seemingly went in the tank during the Sox series, and that carried a bit, (hopefully) peaking during a series against the worst team in the league. It’ll get better, and soon (as in, sometime during the nine game road trip). That much I guarantee. The hits will come more frequently, and once they do everything else is in place. They’re still patient, and they’re still hitting the ball hard when they do hit it. They’re just not hitting it hard as frequently. Again, these types of things have a way of working themselves out.

While the conclusion is that the offense will soon be back to normal, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a good share of goats. Let’s look at some of the underperformers.

Jorge Posada: .227/.320/.455
Yeah, that’s a horrible BA, but it’s almost all due to a — get this — .212 BABIP. Seriously. Jorge’s ISO-D is still at .093, and his ISO-P is .228. Once those singles start dropping, he’ll be back on a roll.

Johnny Damon: .214/.302/.455
Johnny’s BABIP is even worse at .195. He did have that eye issue, though that might not be as big a part of this as a mere slump. His ISO-D is .088, which is around where it was in April and better than it was in May, and ISO-P is .286, which is by far his best. Again, once the singles start dropping…

Melky Cabrera: .192/.271/.308
Batting average dropped from .327 in April and .321 in May to .192 in June. Is it the Melky slide? Nah. His BABIP dropped from .356 in May to .209 in June. I suspect the real Melky is somewhere in the middle. Hopefully that’s what we’ll see going forward.

Hideki Matsui: .200/.333/.422
Matsui’s BABIP has fallen consistently since April: .315, .246, .182. Unsurprisingly, his BA has fallen along with it. Will Matsui be that .290/.370/.450 guy we’d hoped for? Probably not. However, indications are that he can do a bit better than he has in June.

Alex Rodriguez: .145/.309/.291
This is the toughest case, because there’s always the lingering concern about his hip injury. His power has been greatly sapped, too, as he has just four extra base hits in 55 AB this month. He does only have seven hits total, though, so when he does hit it he hits it hard. He’s a much, much bigger concern than the above four guys.

It was common, at the end of May and beginning of June, to hear sportswriters, bloggers included, marvel at how well Mark Teixeira had been hitting since Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup. True, some made completely unsubstantiated, and in some cases completely false, claims as to why Tex heated up, but despite the platitudes he was hitting the cover off the ball. Still is. The Yankees, the past two games aside, have played remarkably well since then, and much of it is owed to Teixeira shaking his run-of-the-mill early-season slump. However, the team might have looked even better if not for a couple of slumping starters.

As stated in yesterday’s game thread, Melky hasn’t exactly been the hottest hitter since the calendar flipped to May (or, since the season started late, one month into the season). For now we’ll leave him alone. This one is all about Robinson Cano.

Early in the season, Cano was rolling. This came as a joy to Yanks fans, who had seem him stumble out of the gate last year only to partially recover in the second half. It was a long, infuriating slump that no one wants to relive. But he started to alleviate the fears of a repeat by hitting .378/.410/.592 from April 6 through May 1. Robust numbers if there ever were any.

Meanwhile, Mark Teixeira, a notorious slow starter, drew the ire of some Yankees fans. Through May 1 he was hitting a paltry .189/.358/.351. Some fans thought it appropriate to boo him, despite our knowledge that he’s a slow starter. True, he was hitting a bit worse than normal. Over his career he’s hit .251/.349/.433 in April, and that’s counting his slow start in 2009. So yes, he starts slow, but usually not this slow.

Thing started to change that first week of May for Cano. He went 4 for 26 (.154) that week with a double and a walk. Little did we know that it would be a sign of things to come. Since May 1 he’s hit .248/.282/.396. That one week hurt him considerably, as he’s hitting .258/.291/.422 since A-Rod’s return. Those aren’t good numbers by any stretch — though the power numbers are certainly attractive (7 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs). He’s also walked six times since that point, which is good for him but second-lowest among those with over 50 at bats in that span (only Melky is worse…and Gardner had 8 BB in 55 AB during that span).

Meanwhile, Mark Teixeira was busy turning his season around. He, too, hit poorly during that first week of May, sitting at .192/.250/.462. Again, the power is appreciated, but it doesn’t make up for a horrible BA and an equally despicable OBA. Then A-Rod returned, and we all know the story from there. Teixeira has absolutely hit the cover off the ball, to a line of .361/.436/.811.

If only Cano had settled down, rather than falling off a cliff, the Yanks might be even better at this point. Hard to imagine, but it’s true. In fact, this team is rarely firign on all cylinders. Just look at the entire team, first from Opening Day to May 7, and then from May 7 through today.

If Cano and Melky can get back to three quarters of where they were in April, this offense could be an absolute juggernaut. And that’s something to look forward to.

One theme we harp on a lot is the Yankees’ recent history of laying down against mediocre starters whom they haven’t seen yet. But is it a real trend, or like B-Jobbers are we falling victim to the confirmation bias? Jay at Fack Youk takes a look at a statement by Ken Singleton on last night’s YES broadcast:

In the past two years (since 5/27/07) the Yankees have faced 31 rookie pitchers for the first time. In that span, those pitchers have a combined record 3-18 in those games (after the Yanks beat Derek Holland last night).

But is the frustration limited to just rookie pitchers the team is seeing for the first time? No. It really extends to scrubs that the Yanks should dominate, but for some reason they end up going quietly. This is horribly frustrating. Yet Jay adds some interesting commentary:

When they [beat a mediocre starter], we think nothing of it. But when they don’t it tends to stick in our craw. When something goes according to plan, it’s easy to forget about. You can eat sushi 100 times from the same place and hardly be able to tell each one apart, but if you ever get sick from it, you will remember the exact order for years to come.

That’s some quality reasoning right there, and it’s easy to forget in the heat of the moment. Thankfully, we have minds like Jay to take a step back and see the forest for the trees.

We’re recapping April this morning on RAB. Earlier, I examined the offense. Let’s look at the team’s hurlers now.

As I mentioned a few hours ago, the Yanks’ pitching storylines have been dominated by Chien-Ming Wang. Returning from a foot injury, Wang looked downright terrible this spring. In three starts, spanning six innings, he gave up 23 earned runs and raised his career ERA by 0.29 runs. Ouch.

On the month, Yankee pitchers threw 188.1 innings. They have allowed 197 hits and 85 walks. The team WHIP of 1.50 is downright ugly, and the team ERA of 5.88 is even worse. Removing Wang from that equation drops the ERA to a still-ugly 4.94. In the early going, pitching just hasn’t been a strong suit for the Yanks.

Right now, we can point out fingers at the newcomers and the bullpen as the roots of the Yanks’ pitching woes. CC Sabathia, the highly-paid ace of the staff, hasn’t looked like himself. In 32.1 innings spanning five starts, he has a pedestrian 4.73 ERA. He has just 19 strike outs and has already walked 14. Last April, he went 1-4 with a 7.88 ERA but still managed a strike out an inning.

A.J. Burnett, the Yanks’ other high-paid ace, has been victimized by the home run. His strike out numbers — 7.11 per 9 IP — look great, but he has allowed six longballs 31.2 innings. His ERA stands at 5.40.

With the three front-end starters for the Yanks scuffling, the season’s pitching storylines have focused around a resurgent Andy Pettitte, an impressive Phil Hughes and an improving Joba Chamberlain. That trio has made nine starts, and they are 4-1 with a 2.72 ERA. That’s not exactly how I imagined the pitching to play out for the Yanks.

Of course, the starters are only half the tale. Half of the Yankee bullpen is currently sporting numbers uglier than CC Sabathia’s ERA. Jose Veras (5.73), Edwar Ramirez (6.48), Jonathan Albaladejo (8.18) and Damaso Marte (15.19) have left Joe Girardi with just a few reliable relievers. For the most part, those pitchers’ numbers are skewed by one or two bad appearances, but on any given night, the Yanks’ coaches are unsure which pitcher will show up. This inconsistency coupled with a Brian Bruney injury have thrust Mark Melancon and Phil Coke into the setup spot behind Mariano Rivera. It is a work in progress indeed.

So the Yankees have turned the page on April. It is just their second winning April since 2005, and it doesn’t even seem like that impressive of a month. The pitching has been scuffling, and the big bat hasn’t been producing. Yet, there they are at 12-10 and two games out of first. Despite the problems — the Boston sweep, the 22-4 loss — Yankee fans should feel confident knowing that once this team clicks, once the hitters are mashing and the pitchers dealing, it will be very tough indeed to beat this Yankee team.

With a fine mist blanketing Yankee Stadium, April ended for the Yankees last night with a lazy ground-out to Mariano Rivera. For the 12th time last month, the Yankees gathered behind the pitchers mound to congratulate themselves on a job well done.

While the Yankees find themselves over .500 in April for the first time since 2006, it was a rather uneven month. Still, without A-Rod and without Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees are just two games back of the Blue Jays/Red Sox tandem and seem primed for a solid May.

For April, two numbers really leap out at me. On the month, the Bombers scored 128 runs without any help from A-Rod and with little production from the third base spot in their lineup. On the other side of that equation though is the pitching. The Yankees’ pitchers have given up 136 runs, more than 28 other teams in baseball. Only the Orioles have worse pitching.

We can, however, whittle that number away. Thanks to Chien-Ming Wang, the Yanks found themselves saddled with a few ugly games last month. They allowed 22 runs to the Indians and 15 to the Rays in back-to-back outings. Wang’s first start left the Yankees with just seven earned runs — and a loss. If we are to remove Wang’s games from the season, the Yankees are 12-7. In those 19 games, the Yanks have scored 114 runs while giving up 92. Much better.

Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher were the dueling players of the month, and it’s hard to pick one above the other. Cano has a hit in every game but one, and Swisher has been on base in all but one of his games. After a terrible April last year, Cano roared out of the gate with a .366/.400/.581 line. Swisher, after an unlucky 2008, is hitting .312/.430/.714. Nick leads the team with seven home runs, 19 RBIs and 21 runs scored.

Outside of the Robbie and Nick Show, Melky Cabrera deserves recognition for his April. After putting up a woeful 2008 campaign that saw him lose his starting job to Brett Gardner in August, Melky bore down over the winter and went to work. He had a great Spring Training, but the center field job was Gardner’s to lose. Lose it he did by hitting .220/.254/.271.

Melky, still young, had a better attitude than many benched players and made the most of his newfound opportunity. He’s hitting .327/.400/.571 in the early going, and Yankee fans are hoping that his near-repeat of April 2008 doesn’t turn into a rerun of last summer as well.

Otherwise, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui are doing what they do. The only really disappointing performer so far has been Mark Teixeira. He’s hitting just .200/.367/.371 with 3 home runs and only 10 RBI. Clearly, Teixeira, with his team-leading 17 walks, will benefit greatly from A-Rod, but right now, his numbers are not where they will be. Teixeira’s at-bats look good, but the ball just isn’t falling for Teixeira.

Considering the black hole of Cody Ransom and Brett Gardner, now removed from the bottom of the lineup, the Yankees offense has shown us why, come A-Rod’s return, this will be a feared team indeed. We’ll tackle the pitchers in a bit.

The Yankees have scored 40 runs over their first seven games, a beefy 5.71 runs per game. Extrapolate that over the course of the season and you get 925 runs, 24 more than the league leader from 2008. Of course, seven games does not make a sample, so it’s unlikely that the Yankees keep up this pace. Then again, they’ve been without their best hitter all season and have been sans their second-best hitter for the past three games. So perhaps 900 runs is still a possibility.

The strangest part about the Yanks’ offensive success is that so many players are hitting poorly. As mentioned in last night’s recap, the top of the order has been pretty terrible lately. Derek Jeter has a line of .207/.358/.310 on the season and is one for his last 20. Johnny Damon has a .227/.308/.318 line and is two for his last 16. So the guys atop the order aren’t getting on base to set up the guys in the middle of the order. Yet the Yanks continue to score runs.

At the other end of the lineup things look just as bad, perhaps worse. No. 8 hitter Cody Ransom has been downright terrible thisyear, posting a line of .083/.154/.125. Since his double in the season’s second game, Ransom went hitless for his next 17 at bats before driving in a run last night. He’s been on base all of four times this season, with two hits and two walks. Brett Gardner is hitting .227/.261/.273 with just one walk on the season. Those are four guys, who hit consecutively, posting black holes. Add to that Hideki Matsui’s .125/.192/.292 line and that’s five straight black holes.

Thankfully, the middle of the order has seen a bit more success. Nick Swisher has more than earned his playing time, as he’s hitting .450/.542/1.150 with three homers and three doubles. In fact, Swisher is so good that he has more home runs than singles. More doubles than singles, too. Jorge Posada has come back guns blazing, hitting .350/.409/.700 on the young season. Robinson Cano has shown a bit better plate discipline so far, and has posted a .385/.467/.538 line. Xavier Nady has taken just one walk in 26 plate appearances, but is still hitting .280 with four doubles.

Swisher, Nady, Posada, and Cano have powered the Yanks through the first seven games. Now it’s time for the other guys to step up. Those four can’t keep up this torrid pace forever. They’re going to regress, and when they do it’s going to be up to Jeter, Damon, Matsui, and Gardner to pick up the slack. Ransom’s slack, of course, will be picked up by A-Rod in due time. Just imagine how many runs they can score then.