Yankees May Review: Can I Get A Hit?

Once again, about a half month late on this and I have been absent from posting since last month but I hope I can change that over the summer. A look at the Yankees in May...

Record: 14-14

Offensive Stats:
Batting Average: .261 (6th in AL)
Slugging Percentage: .445 (3rd in AL)
Home Runs: 39 (3rd in AL)
RBI: 108 (11th in AL)
Runs: 112 (11th in AL)
Hits: 246 (9th in AL)
My Grade Average: 2.50 (~B-) 

Thoughts: It was a rough month for the offense and my B- average might be a bit generous. Although they were 14-14 they still have yet to win a game where they haven't hit a home run. As has been well documented across the media, hitting with RISP has been atrocious and even worse has been hitting with the bases loaded (still a sub-.200 average). The good news is that the home runs keep coming. Brett Gardner is still out and looks to be for a long time so the Yanks have to find other ways to produce runs. Cano has started to hit and A-Rod and Tex showed some signs of life although they haven't been as good as they should be. Overall a mediocre month for the bats.

Pitching Stats:
ERA: 3.97 (6th in AL)
Hits Allowed: 252 (6th most in AL)
Earned Runs Allowed: 108 (10th most in AL)
Home Runs: 38 (2nd most in AL)
Walks: 79 (12th most in AL)
Strikeouts: 210 (7th in AL)
My Starting Pitching Grade Average: 3.02 (~B)
My Bullpen Grade Average: 3.20 (~B+)

Thoughts: The pitching was on the upswing for the Yanks in May, much improved from their quite dismal April start. The return of Andy Pettitte added a nice spark to the rotation and he has been a solid number 2 starter. The stat categories listed above showed much improvement from April and the ERA has dropped significantly to a much more acceptable level (it has been even better in June so far).

Pitcher Breakdown (# of starts); Starter Grade/Offensive Support Grade/Bullpen Support Grade

Sabathia (5): 3.60/3.07/3.33 (Yankees were 3-2 in his starts) 
Kuroda (5): 2.73/1.60/3.07 (Yankees were 2-3 in his starts)
Hughes (6):  2.95/2.83/2.89 (Yankees were 3-3 in his starts)
Nova (6):  2.89/2.72/3.78 (Yankees were 4-2 in his starts)
Pettitte (4): 3.42/2.50/3.17 (Yankees were 2-2 in his starts)
Phelps (2): 2.17/1.67/2.50 (Yankees were 0-2 in his starts)
Thoughts: A fairly blah month for starting pitching as a whole. Phelps provided a quality bridge to Pettitte despite the 2 losses in his starts. The Yanks won 4 of 6 starts by Nova who continues to get run support and good bullpen relief (highest for the team). Sabathia was fairly consistent although had a sub-par outing or two. Kuroda was hit or miss but seemed to find himself late in the month. The enigma that is Phil Hughes continued but fortunately June seems like a much better month for the right-hander.