Bobby Abreu is the catalyst

There may be many reasons why the Yankees are playing their best baseball of the season right now. The main reason, in my opinion, has been Bobby Abreu (pictured).

Since not playing on May 30, Abreu is 19-38 with one home run and nine RBIs. He makes this lineup work. The Yankees are 8-2 during this time and are starting to crawl out of the large hole they dug themselves in the AL East to start the season.

As reported by Peter Abraham over at the LoHud Yankees Blog, in games that Abreu hits third and Alex Rodriguez hits fourth, Rodriguez is 51-146 with 19 HRs and 55 RBIs. When someone else is hitting third, Rodriguez is 19-84 with much lower offensive production (source).

A hot Abreu means a hot Rodriguez, which, in turn, leads to a hot lineup as seen during these last 10 games.

It also helps that Roger Clemens is back, giving the Yankees the best rotation they have had since 2003.

I know I'm looking like an idiot for declaring the AL East race (and season in general) over so quickly. I'm still not prepared to guarantee winning the division. However, this team is not as done as I originally thought it was, and I should've used more discretion in predicting doom and gloom. It will be a very interesting summer, and nothing is settled yet.

AP Photo