The fact that 20-year-old Mike Trout is leading the AL batting race is probably more surprising.
The New Jersey-born Trout will make his first appearance at Yankee Stadium on Friday night when the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees open a three-game set.
Despite an age that would suggest he's in the twilight of his career for New York (52-33), Jeter has 12 hits in his last 28 at-bats to raise his total to 111.
Trout, meanwhile, is in the ascendancy with a .341 average to become the front-runner for AL rookie of the year honors.
The center fielder has 12 homers, 40 RBIs and 26 stolen bases in 64 games since being recalled April 28 from Triple-A Salt Lake. Trout's callup came two weeks after the Angels lost two of three in the Bronx from April 13-15, and Los Angeles (48-38) is 40-24 since his season debut.
"He's not playing over his head," manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's just a young player who's playing to his potential at a very, very young age, and that's rare."
Trout drove in four runs and made some spectacular catches in the outfield as the Angels took two of three at home from the Yankees from May 28-30 to even the season series at three games apiece.
The Yankees will also have to be wary of Mark Trumbo, who is 9 for 18 with four homers, seven runs scored and seven RBIs in five games against them.
Trout has never faced New York right-hander Hiroki Kuroda (8-7, 3.50 ERA), who earned his first win with the Yankees on April 13 with eight stellar innings in a 5-0 victory over the Angels. Kuroda is 6-3 with a 2.56 ERA in nine home starts.
New York is an AL-best 18-11 against left-handed starters, but one of those losses came against the Angels' C.J. Wilson (9-5, 2.43). Wilson, who will be on the mound again Friday, yielded one run over six innings April 14 to earn a 7-1 victory.
Jeter owns a .389 career average against Wilson, and Robinson Cano is at .350. Alex Rodriguez (1 for 16), Mark Teixeira (1 for 12) and Curtis Granderson (2 for 11) have all fared poorly.
Andruw Jones is 0 for 9 off Wilson, but had four homers in his last three games before the All-Star break.
Cano is batting .393 with five homers and 16 RBIs over a 15-game hitting streak, but is 5 for 24 against the Angels this year.
Jeter owns a team-high .333 average in the season series, and he's happy that the Yankees have overcome injuries to the pitching staff to post baseball's best first-half record.
"We have a lot of guys step up, and our bullpen has been great and our stars have been good," Jeter said. "Coming off the bench, when you need all 25 players, sometimes you need a few more and we've definitely used a lot."
The Yankees are a major league-best 21-8 since June 8, but the Angels are 19-9 in that stretch to match Texas for the second-best mark. Los Angeles leads the wild-card race, and trails the Rangers by four games in the West.
Angels W/L Trends
Angels are 4-0 in their last 4 games as an underdog.
Angels are 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog of +110 to +150.
Angels are 4-1 in their last 5 games following an off day.
Angels are 16-5 in their last 21 road games.
Angels are 2-4 SU in their last 6 games on the road
Angels are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games when playing on the road against NY Yankees
Angels are 1-4 in their last 5 road games vs. a right-handed starter.
Angels are 7-0 in Wilsons last 7 road starts.
Yankees W/L Trends
Yankees are 9-1 in their last 10 games following an off day.
Yankees are 23-8 in their last 31 games as a favorite.
Yankees are 24-9 in their last 33 overall.
Yankees are 5-1 in Kurodas last 6 starts.
Yankees are 5-2 in Kurodas last 7 home starts.
Head-To-Head
Over is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings in New York.
Angels are 1-4 in the last 5 meetings in New York.
(Note: I tend not to list trends about grass, totals, runs scored in previous game, whether or not the moon was full or other nonsense stats such as that.)
Wilson lost his last start before the All-Star break, but he pitched well enough to win, allowing three runs over seven innings in a 3-2 loss to Baltimore. He had won his previous five decisions and hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last 11 outings. Wilson is 1-3 with a 3.54 ERA in 22 games (five starts) against the Yankees.
Kuroda had put together six quality starts in seven outings before he was blown up for seven runs (six earned) in 5 2/3 innings Friday at Boston. He didn't factor in the decision, though, and has won five of his last six decisions. In four starts against the Angels, Kuroda is 2-2 with a 1.71 ERA.
The Angels' current roster is a collective 14-for-73 (.192) against Kuroda, and no Los Angeles player is hitting over .300 against him.
INJURY to consider - How is CJ Wilson's finger? (blister on pitching hand) He is currently listed as probable but we believe he will start without any issues. But the question remains...is it 100% or will it give him a little grief? We all know how particular pitchers can be.
Bullpens
Los Angeles Angels's relievers have pitched 7 innings in the last 3 games
New York Yankees's relievers have pitched 8 innings in the last 3 games.
ANGELS
Angels are second worst in the league in free passes at 2.7 per game.
Angels are third best in the league in times striking out with 6.5 per game.
Angels have the second stingiest defence in the league at 3.9 runs per game.
Angels are second best in the league in giving up hits, allowing 8.0 per game.
YANKEES
Yankees have the third-most base on balls in the league at 3.6 per game.
Yankees lead the league in K's with 8.4 per game.
Today i think we see CJ Wilson stumble a little. He's not pitching on a high "Cycle" nor is he at home where he does his best work. The Yankees on the other hand have no travel to worry about and they have a pitcher who is in a high cycle and the team in general is playing very well right now. I see no reason NY does not do well today. The balls could carry just a little today towards left field with a 8-10 mph winds coming in from the SW. Humidity about 51% predicted at game time. Take the Yankees today and dont sweat it.
NY YANKEES -122
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