twilightdawning

A writer's thoughts – mainly about music, sport and theatre. Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, live shows, New York Yankees

About twilightdawning

Amongst other things, I write professionally. I've been published everywhere from the small (Barnsley Chronicle), to the large (London Sunday Times colour supplement). I primarily write about music, theatre and sport. Most of the articles here have been previously published. No copyright infringement intended I also work in the music world. I've worked as a producer, promoter and general ideas man and conceptualizer. At the moment I'm working with Sad Cafe among others. I'm building a theatre. It's almost done after three years of planning and trying to be kind to my architect and my builders. We open in October 2012. I run a theatrical production company called "The Shakespearience". We perform an introduction to William Shakespeare for young people. Most of all I work in the charitable and faith sphere. I'm senior pastor of an unusual church in central London. I'm a busy man.

The New York Yankees in October – Part One – The Batters (2022)

Posted on November 10, 2022 by twilightdawning

When it comes to a situation like the Yankees face most every season these days, – getting ready for the post-season – they can make one of two choices. They can maintain momentum by choosing their best lineup every day, or they can rest the regulars and use the players off the bench. The latter is not as easy these days, because roster expansion is much lower numerically than it used to be a few years ago, but that still seems to be the route that the New York team chooses.

The thing that the Yankees would gain if they maintained that momentum, is that they would build the confidence of a line-up of a team who seem very, very conscious that they are likely to face the Houston Astros in the post-season. And the Astros, regardless of how they achieved some of their previous winning seasons, seem to have a hoodoo over the New York team which inhibits the Yankees performance.

So, once again the Yankees made their choices, and one again the season came to an earlier than hoped for end. The fans ran out of patience. They wanted to see the back of Aaron Boone, they treated Isiah Kiner-Falefa and his family badly. Hey, they even booed Aaron Judge.

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Steve Hackett – Dancing a Foxtrot in 2022

Posted on November 1, 2022 by twilightdawning

What: Foxtrot at 50 and Hackett Highlights

Who: Steve Hackett and his band

Where: Hammersmith Apollo, London

When: October 12, 2022

Steve Hackett’s idea of incorporating his classic Genesis hits into his concert tours, setlist,and consequent live albums, has resulted in a commercial revival also. Prior to his Genesis Revisited II set in 2012, no album of his had charted in the UK for 15 years. Since then 12 of his albums (live and studio) have hit the UK top 100 album chart. His most recent release reached no. 28 in the charts. They don’t hang around for long, but it keeps his name in the public eye and these tours are at a reasonable profile.

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The New York Yankees in September – Part Two – The Pitchers (2022)

Posted on October 10, 2022 by twilightdawning

Aaron Judge…! Aaron Judge…!! The 17 games the Yankees won during September were primarily down to Mr Judge, their superstar outfielder, whose sixty plus home runs guaranteed them their place in the post-season.

But, it obviously wasn’t down to Aaron alone. We’ve already seen how much players like Gleyber Torres contributed to getting things rolling in September. And many of the pitchers, both starters and relievers, added great performances into this strong month.

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The New York Yankees in September – Part One – The Batters (2022)

Posted on October 6, 2022 by twilightdawning

Well, after August it had to get better right? Well, thankfully, it did! Winning 17-8 on the month, it was the best month that the Yankees had since June. July had been ordinary. August was appalling, but September was just what the Yankees needed to head into the post-season.

Some new faces settled into the squad. Some players came back from injury.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part Two – The Pitchers (2022)

Posted on September 12, 2022 by twilightdawning

August…the New York Yankees. Two terms that in 2022 just didn’t go together.

Ten wins, 18 losses. Now, a large part of that as we have seen was due to the batters failing to hit, fielders failing to field. But the pichers were far from guiltless. far from faultless. Starters and relievers alike.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part One – The Batters (2022)

Posted on September 9, 2022 by twilightdawning

August 2022 was a nightmare month for the New York Yankees. If the New York Yankees hadn’t had such a good first half of the season, they would have been dead and buried by the end of August.

it still meant that the huge gap that the Yankees had opened prior to August was reduced from over 11 to 6. It meant that there was a genuine need for the New York team to snap out of it or one of the two pursuing team (Tampa Bay and Toronto) might catch them

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For Thou Mayest See a Sunshine and a Hail in me at once

Posted on September 1, 2022 by twilightdawning

What: All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare

Where: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), Stratford-upon-Avon

When: August 22-28 2022 (runs until late October 2022)

Who: The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)

William Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well” is, they say, a problem play. Having read all the main literature on that subject, I’m still not convinced on that subject, but this I do know – the RSC’s current production of it makes it more of a problem than it needs to be.

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The New York Yankees in July – Part Two – The Pitchers (2022)

Posted on August 12, 2022 by twilightdawning

As we mentioned in our previous article, the Yankees just did enough to achieve a .500 win-loss record in July and as we survey the pitchers, we note that many of the starters began to buckle with only Nestor Cortes coming in at the end of the month with an ERA of less then 4.

Michael King was having another excellent month in July, but broke his elbow in the 2/3 of the month and is gone for the long term. You’d never want to see somebody go out with an injury like that, and in reality there is no compensation. However the Yankees did have longterm injuries Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga coming back this month. Clarke Schmidt who had been building up his stamina was recalled from Scranton, but oft-injured Luis Severino was lost to the team again.

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The New York Yankees in July – Part One – The Batters (2022)

Posted on August 8, 2022 by twilightdawning

Something was not quite right for the Yankees in July. After going 22-6 in June, they produced a mere 13-13 record in the month that followed.

On one hand, they suffered injuries to important players like Giancarlo Stanton and Michael King.

On the other, they brought in new signing Andrew Benintendi from Kansas City for a clutch of players from their farm system – Chandler Champlain (RHP), Beck Way (RHP), and T.J. Sikkema (LHP)

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The New York Yankees in June – Part Two – The Pitchers (2022)

Posted on July 15, 2022 by twilightdawning

The Yankees pitching in June was nothing short of amazing. Having 22 wins in a calendar month is one thing, but when 10 of the pitchers your team used have a WHIP of less than one on the month, it is easy to see where the lion’s share of the credit might lie.

The starters underwent a wobble or two, but the bullpen were there to keep the wins coming in. As we survey the statistics of the month, we’ll see very clearly why they kept winning.

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