New York Yankees

The term underrated is thrown around quite frequently. It can be used to describe pretty much any situation, but is most often used for sports figures and their on-field exploits.

Yesterday, June 21st, was the 71st anniversary of Lou Gehrig's retirement. While Gehrig removed himself from the Yankee lineup prior to the game on May 2, 1939, he remained with the team as captain for another six weeks.

The Gulf Coast League is a little talked about league because they are below even Single-A.  It is rookie ball, and often the players are so far away from the majors that it makes little sense to discuss them.

Earlier in the year, everyone was writing stories about Derek Jeter and what it would take to resign the New York Yankees all-star shortstop after the season, when his 10-year contract finally comes to an end.

I’m not sure why there's been such an obsession over this. Everyone knows that Jeter is more likely to retire than to sign somewhere else.

The Yankees have the second-ranked offense in all of baseball this season, slightly behind the Boston Red Sox and way out in front of whomever is the third-place team on any given day. Still, with all of the injuries they’ve been experiencing, they’ve had a problem with getting consistent offense. Buster Olney of ESPN has reported that the Yankees have been on the lookout for a bat.

The Yankees have a very inconsistent bullpen this year. Take a look at some of the main culprits.

Joba Chamberlain: 5.52 ERA 

Chad Gaudin: 6.89 ERA

David Robertson: 5.48 ERA

Chan Ho Park: 6.86 ERA

It is obvious that the Yankees weakest spot on the team is the bullpen, and that has to improve if they plan on going anywhere this October.

The Yankees are in the desert this week taking on the last place Diamondbacks, but unlike the Orioles, this last place team has a bit of fire power in their lineup, and they pounced all over AJ Burnett as the Yankees lost <

  From Chad Jennings :

As I was taking in the hideous stylings of one Allan James Burnett last night at Chase Field, I thought it would be fun to gauge the A.J. Love on some sure-to-be completely rational New York Yankee message boards.

The struggling right-hander had allowed three homers and five runs through one inning against the last-place Diamondbacks. Burnett, I reasoned, would be a periphery topic at the very least.

It turns out that Yankees fans—even-keeled lot that they are—were not happy with their supposed No. 2 starter.

As of Monday, the New York Yankees have moved ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East, while the Boston Red Sox (who a month ago were 8 1/2 games back) now currently sit in a virtual tie with Tampa, and are one game back of the Yankees. 

Since it's ladies first, I will start with the Yankees.

Despite losing their last two consecutive games against the New York Yankees, the New York Mets have showed improvement.

Going 8-2 in the last 10 games they’ve played, the Mets are currently 39-30 and second in the NL East, trailing the Atlanta Braves by 2.5 games.

Since calling R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi from the minor leagues, the Mets have found success. Dickey is 5-0 on the season with a 2.82 ERA and Takahashi is 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA on the season.