The New York Yankees have won 18 of their last 24 to retake first place in baseball's toughest division, the American League East. Their offense has been fairly consistent, as their league-leading offense has scored 5.4 runs per game since June 1 compared to 5.3 runs per game before that.

The combination of pitching and defense, however, is behind the Yankees' recent surge. The team allowed 4.0 runs per game before June 1, but has dropped half a run from that total since.

There is one aspect of defense where the Yankees really excelled in June: good, solid, fundamental defense. In the past we had no way to measure good solid fundamental defense. But now we do. We've been discussing Defensive Runs Saved in these pages recently, but now we'll focus on a couple of additional stats that Baseball Info Solutions has been tracking for the last few years: Good Plays and Misplays (more thorough definitions at the end of this article). The Bronx Bombers led the league in Net Plays (Good Fielding Plays minus Defensive Misplays and Errors) during the month of June. Their defenders had 82 Good Fielding Plays while only committing 44 Misplays or Errors. Anything above zero is pretty good, but 38 Net Plays for the Yanks in June is superlative. Left fielder Brett Gardner and third baseman Alex Rodriguez led the way, a combined 16 Good Fielding Plays, 0 Defensive Misplays, and just 1 Error last month.

Here are the team Net Plays leaders in June:

Here are the full season leaders in Net Plays:

Despite their awesome defensive display in June with 38 Net Plays, the Yankees were well underwater prior to that with -23 Net Plays. They currently stand tied for 5th with 16 Net Plays among the 30 MLB teams.

More on Defensive Misplays and Good Fielding Plays

A Defensive Misplay is recorded when a fielder does something identifiably wrong AND an opposing batter reaches base or takes an extra base as a result. And the play is not ruled an error. It's ruled a Misplay by Baseball Info Solutions. There are currently 54 types of Defensive Misplays Baseball Info Solutions records. BIS also categorizes all official Errors into these 54 types.

A Good Fielding Play occurs when a fielder makes a play that we wouldn't typically expect to be made, recording an unexpected out or preventing a baserunner advancement. There are currently 27 different types of Good Fielding Plays.

Here is an article from Bill James on Defensive Misplays from The Fielding Bible—Volume II and on the website, fieldingbible.com. More on these measures will be seen in The Fielding Bible—Volume III, available next spring.