I think it's quite funny how after the game tonight I come home and look at http://www.pinstripealley.com/2009/7/27/965184/offense-and-burnett-carry-yankees#comments and see why this blog poster has no brain.  James Shields is referred to as having a "good splitter with solid command."  This is funny because Shieldsy has a Fastball, Change-up, Slider, Curveball, and Cutter.  Also, the fact that this person didn't even mention his change-up is just wrong-His change is one of the best in the majors.  Also, I know that it has been said a million and two times that the Yankees buy championships but this is simply not true.  They used to have actual home-grown talent, but (almost) all of that is gone, and is replaced by overpaid sluggers exiting their prime (besides Teixeira, who is beginning his prime).  Yankees fans have been recently bragging how their young talent is lifting the team, and not the free agents signings.  Well if you look at the leaderboards for VORP (Value Over Replacement Player, a measure of how much this particular player attributes to his team over that of an average bench player, or replacement player) yields that the 9 most valuable position players on the Yankees roster are 

1.  Derek Jeter (38.8 Vorp)

2.  Mark Teixeira (27.5)

3.  Johnny Damon (24.1)

4.  Alex Rodriguez (22.2)

5.  Robinson Cano (21.9)

6.  Jorge Posada (20.3)

7.  Hideki Matsui (12.6)

8.  Nick Swisher (11.2)

9.  Melky Cabrera (10.7)

Well 4 (#'s 1, 5, 6, 9) are homegrown, but only Melky and Cano are Homegrown stars under 35.  So of course these two are helping the Yankees and their pursuit of the AL East Champions, but not nearly as much as the free agent signings.  And I am aware this is common knowledge (almost) but there is one more thing to point ou.  Yankee stadium is of coure a launching pad, for every left-handed hitter, and most righties also.  91 homers have been hit at home, compared to 54 dingers away.  Now anyone can say that the Yankees may always have done this but that is not the case.  A look at the home run ratio of home games to away games:

2009 Season (after 99 games)-91 at Home/54 Away

2008 Season-92 at Home/88 Away

2007 Season-107 at Home/94 Away

2006 Season-111 at Home/99 Away

2005 Season-126 at Home/103 Away

And the results show the obvious, that the 2009 season is the most extreme.  The real significance of this is how this plays to the Yankees strengths.  The Yankees have finished first in the AL East in home runs hit for 5 years running, and by playing to their strengths, they win more games.  However, only 37 more runs have been scored at home than away, which is equivalent to about 4 more home wins.  But 4 more home wins isn't too significant, especially when they have played 5 more home games than away.  The data shows that the Yankees are an all-around powerhouse team, even though they pay the kings ransom for free agents.  The trick is actually not in the amount of runs scored, but how valuable those runs are.  The Yankees have the most home wins in the majors with 35, but sixth in the majors in away wins with 26.  So the Yankees make the extra runs at home count because of their pitchers.  The Yankees' pitchers average a 4.44 era at home, compared to a 4.32 era away.  Because the pitching is consistently allowing close to the same number of runs per game no matter where the Yankees play, the extra runs will win them the game.