It was also a really mixed bag for the Yankees on the pitching front in August. Two or three starters were effective but others particularly Ivan Nova were well below expectations. Let’s see who did what:
Without A-Rod and Mo for the whole month and with key players like Teixeira out for handfuls of games, the Yankees did better than you might expect in August. They won 15, lost 13 which gave them above .500 on the month and kept them ahead of the division. However, things were not going as well as they might. Let’s see who did what in this decidedly mixed month:
Well, the home run and the relief pitching have been the heart of the Yankees’ successful season so far and July wasn’t much different. We have coped with the loss of Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera and maintained a lead at the head of the division. Who were the contributors in that surprising situation?
July was an unusual month for the Yankees. They surprised the pundits by bringing in Ichiro Suzuki who looked likely to spend the whole of his American Major League career with Seattle and designated Dewayne Wise, who had become a fan favourite following a remarkable June. They persisted with Russell Martin and saw Alex Rodriguez head for the disabled list. But who were the solid bats behind a creditable month. Let’s see:
The Yankees’ pitching in June was phenomenal. Even leaving the amusing story of Dewayne Wise aside, the very fact that they had 11 pitchers who achieved individual ERAs of less than 3.00 on the month shows that it was the pitching staff who earn the lion’s share of the credit for the 20 wins -7 losses record that they put together in June. Let’s see who did what:
A quick look over the Yankees statistics for the month of June 2012 sends one of the bench players to the centre of attention in a most novel way. Dewayne Wise not only led the team in batting average but he pitched in a game and came out of it with a 0.00 ERA and “caught” a flyball in the stands and was awarded an out even though somebody else was holding the ball at the time. But as well as that amazing month for Dewayne, what else went well and what else went badly? Well, let’s start by surveying the guys who swing the lumber…….
The pitching led us to a .500 record in May – which isn’t good enough – but encouragingly all the wins came from pitchers who for one reason or another took a spot in the rotation during that month.
Let’s see who led the way and who was dragging behind……
May was a difficult month for the Bronx Bombers. It opened with Eric Chavez headed to the disabled list and then the bullpen fell apart. Mariano Rivera and then, his replacement as closer, David Robertson both went to the DL with Rivera done for the season.
In the end, they finished the month 14-14 with the bullpen settling into its new routine in a way that nobody could have predicted. How were the bats this month?
April was a very straightforward month for the Yankees. There was still that lingering sensation that they had coasted through Spring Training and that too much was being taken for granted and assumed. May was to be wake up time but for now let’s look back at April and see what was going right….. and wrong.
So we have surveyed the batters, now onto the pitchers…..
twilightdawning 