The Yankees went from one game over .500 to ten games over .500 in the course of the month of May – rising from 15-14 to 34-24.

In the process, they moved from 4th in the division to third and remained in close contention for a wild card spot, moving between 2nd and 3rd in that particular race. They were close and back-and-forth with their modern era fierce rivals, the Houston Astros.

None of this could hide the reality of just how far they are behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who were quickest out of the traps and have not slowed to any considerable extent.

Noticeably, the Yankees’ starting rotation only gathered 7 of the 19 wins, which shows just how strong their bullpen is, but also how it will be strained if the season continues like this.

Let’s look at the fact and figures:

* indicates left-handed pitcher. No * indicates right-handed pitcher

Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP
Ian Hamilton rp	0	0	0.00	7	0	1	0	1	6.1	6	0	0	2	11	1.26
Nick Ramirez rp*	0	0	0.00	4	0	3	0	0	4.2	3	0	0	2	2	1.07
Luis Severino sp	0	0	1.59	2	2	0	0	0	11.1	5	3	2	4	10	0.79
Michael King rp	1	0	1.80	10	0	4	0	2	15.0	9	3	3	7	18	1.07
Albert Abreu rp	2	1	1.88	12	0	4	0	0	14.1	7	5	3	7	14	0.98
Wandy Peralta rp*	1	1	1.93	15	0	5	0	3	14.0	8	5	3	8	13	1.14
Domingo German sp	1	1	2.54	5	5	0	0	0	28.1	16	9	8	9	20	0.88
Clay Holmes rp	3	1	2.63	15	0	4	0	1	13.2	14	4	4	5	18	1.39
Ryan Weber rp	1	0	2.92	7	0	4	0	1	12.1	15	4	4	1	6	1.30
Deivi Garcia sp/rp	0	0	3.00	1	0	1	0	1	3.0	2	1	1	1	2	1.00
Clarke Schmidt sp	2	2	3.52	6	6	0	0	0	30.2	30	14	12	12	33	1.37
Randy Vasquez sp	0	1	3.86	1	1	0	0	0	4.2	4	2	2	3	6	1.50
Jimmy Cordero sp/rp	2	2	4.15	12	1	0	0	0	13.0	11	6	6	5	11	1.23
Gerrit Cole sp	1	0	5.18	6	6	0	0	0	33.0	35	21	19	15	35	1.52
Ron Marinaccio rp	2	1	5.28	15	0	3	0	1	15.1	13	10	9	6	16	1.24
Nestor Cortes sp*	2	0	5.47	5	5	0	0	0	26.1	28	16	16	10	24	1.44
Jhony Brito sp/rp	1	0	5.60	4	3	0	0	0	17.2	21	14	11	7	13	1.58
Greg Weissert rp	0	0	18.00	1	0	0	0	0	1.0	3	2	2	1	2	4.00
Name/Pos	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WHIP

Starters

After a great start which took him through most of April, Gerrit Cole still managed to have more wins than losses in May (1-0). but that couldn’t hide the fact that it was a below par and wretched month. His 5.18 ERA was one indicator, but his 1.52 WHIP told the bigger story.

If your number one starter has gone AWOL then you want the number two guy to stand in the gap. With Carlos Rodon still not available to make his debut, that meant that Nestor Cortes needed to be that guy. He wasn’t up to the task. As I have indicated before I see Nestor as someone who thrives on confidence and good runs of outcomes, and it has all been downhill fast for him this season. His playfulness has disappeared, and his willingness to take risks has gone the same way. Like Cole, he didn’t have any losses this month. His WHIP was marginally better, his ERA somewhat worse.

Next, please…

Well, let’s talk about Domingo German. It’s not too long ago that German was suspended on a domestic violence rap. Well, at least that kind of thing sticks in MY memory. In April, he was subject to an elongated umpires’ examination for “sticky stuff”, but managed to persuade the crew that it was rosin, and was let off with firm instructions to go wash his hands. Now, anybody who lands a break like that should know that he is going to be under watchful eyes for at least the short term future. On the 16th of this current month, his hands were described as “the stickiest I’ve ever seen” by the crew chief, and he was to find himself ejected and subject to a mandatory 10 game suspension. Prior to that his month had been a good one, but with the Yankees having such a high number of injuries, he left them in a deep hole with a lack of starters.

One of the few bright points on the starting rotation was that Luis Severino was back and his first two starts were tight and effective. He led the team in WHIP and ERA amongst regularly used pitchers, and amongst starters shared the lead with Cortes, who made 3 more starts than Severino, and was much less effective. For a pitcher with such a checkered history of injuries as Severino, it is much, much too early to says that he’s back or to predict what the future holds, but the Yankees was glad he was there.

With the Yankees still licking their wounds over the signing of Frankie Montas, and his ongoing absence from the roster, because of injury, they were glad to have some young arms to turn to. Jhony Brito made 3 starts. Again like others we have mentioned, he didn’t collect any losses, but his 5.60 ERA, and 1.58 WHIP were the weakest amongst anybody you might consider a regular member of the roster. There was also an occasion when the Yankees used Jimmy Cordero as a kind of opener, and then brought on Brito but that didn’t work any better.

Randy Vasquez was a surprise call up and made his debut this month in a brief stay in the Bronx. He didn’t do too badly, but gave up too many walks and unlike many of the other examples we have mentioned who had weak starts, the batting and the bullpen couldn’t combine to save the day on that occasion.

Finally in this category, we have Clarke Schmidt. All those injuries means that he has been on the mound every fifth day. There is little evidence to suggest the Yankees will continue with him in that role once some of these missing starters begin to return. The monthly record of 2 wins, 2 losses, 2 no decisions seems to me to be based more luck than skill or judgement. The 1.37 WHIP for May looms large over his record.

Relievers

The best reliever on the month looked likely to be Ian Hamilton, who pitched in seven games without conceding a run. However, Hamilton found himself headed for the injured list with a right groin strain on the 17th, and didn’t play in the last two weeks of the month. The date of his return is undetermined and we’ll just never know what would have happened in the second half of the month.

Michael King was, overall, perhaps the best reliever on the staff in May. He played in 10 games, and gave the team 15 strong innings. He kept his ERA low, and his WHIP only just crept over one.

Other strong performances were delivered by the dependable Wandy Peralta, and the very inconsistent Albert Abreu. Between the two of them, they locked in 27 appearances, and Abreu led the bullpen in the WHIP category in May. Both kept their ERA below two.

Speaking of inconsistency, we turn to Clay Holmes who has lost the closer’s role for the time being with the Yankees opting for a committee outlook for that position for the time being. In his 15 appearances this month, Holmes only added 1 save to his record, with Peralta and King leading in that category and four other pitchers achieving saves.

Amongst the group achieving one save each was Ron Marinaccio, who otherwise had a very poor month. He allowed 19 runners to get on base across just over 15 innings. This led to a very unconvincing 5.28 ERA.

Two of the other saves fell to Ryan Weber and Deivi Garcia who have both travelled on the Scranton shuttle. Weber had by far the more significant role this month, but nobody is convinced that he has a long term future on the club.

Jimmy Cordero had an uneven month, and Greg Weissert‘s one appearance was awful as he allow 4 runners to get on base in one innings. He too will divide his time between Scranton and the Bronx for the time being.

Nick Ramirez was another occasional face to grace the major league roster. He delivered 4 appearances without conceding a run which can’t harm his standing in the minds of the Yankees’ brass.

Aaron Hicks aaron judge analysis anthony volpe aroldis chapman baseball brett gardner chad green concert concerts darren hirst darrenhirst.com dj lemahieu drama gary sanchez giancarlo stanton gleyber torres journalism live show london luis severino masahiro tanaka mlb music new york new york yankees play review reviews rock royal shakespeare company royal shakespeare theatre rsc scranton scranton/wilkes-barre railriders shakespeare sport sports spring training statistics stratford-upon-avon theatre william shakespeare yankees yankee stadium