twilightdawning

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

The New York Yankees in September / October – Part One – The Batters (2023)

Posted on October 9, 2023 by twilightdawning

At the end of August, Brian Cashman (Yankees’ General Manager) said “It’s been a disaster of a season. We’re embarassed by it”.

This came, of course, with the Yankees’ usual gift for hyperbole. It was what the less thoughtful fans wanted to hear, and it just built things towards the inevitable firestorm.

For Hal Steinbrenner, and those at the financial helm of the Yankees, it had of course been disastrous. They looked like they were going to miss the post-season (they still had an outside chance when the statement was made – and that would be a tremendous financial loss. They had cut Aaron Hicks, and Josh Donaldson was about to go down the same route. They would carry the can for those poorly chosen signings and their contracts.

But they have finished the season over .500, and were just about to pull themselves up by their bootstraps with a 17-11 last month plus of the season, and move above the old enemy, Boston Red Sox into 4th place in the American League East.

So, really not good, but not a disaster. It gave them a chance to look at some developing young players (not everything went smoothly as we shall see), and to re-examine their priorities. Some fans will still spit and cuss, but that’s a given. Here’s the batting stats for September and October.

Continue reading →

New York Yankees Diary – September 30th, 2023

Posted on October 2, 2023 by twilightdawning

So, my month at the Stadium is over.

What can I tell you? It didn’t work out quite the way I had anticipated it when I accepted the commission at the beginning of the season.

Then the Yankees looked like one of the strongest, if not the strongest team in Major League Baseball. I would have ranked them alongside the Atlanta Braves as the strongest team in the majors

Continue reading →

New York Yankees Diary – September 11th, 2023

Posted on September 14, 2023 by twilightdawning

Value for money. It’s a big issue in the times when your baseball team are not doing so well.

Unlike most critics, I don’t think the Yankees have got some divine right to win – no matter how much the Steinbrenners and Cashmans of this world promise it. However, I do think the Yankees have a duty to take care of their fans and treat them well.

Stadium tours. If you look at what is being charged, and what is being given, it doesn’t seem to be happening.

Continue reading →

New York Yankees Diary – September 7th, 2023

Posted on September 8, 2023 by twilightdawning

(Having been commissioned to be at Yankee Stadium for the home games during September, I kept a diary to submit to my publishers. I am now able to present some of my writings on the games here).

Before tonight’s game, the Yankees, who had been told in no uncertain terms in August by General Manager Brian Cashman that their season was a disaster, then had one of their best runs of the season winning 8 of their previous 10 games. Indeed, one of the two they had lost was due to a walkoff. They were pretty much in contention for every game.

Continue reading →

The New York Yankees in July – Part Two – The Pitchers (2023)

Posted on August 4, 2023 by twilightdawning

So, continuing on with this theme of the Yankees appalling collapse in July – It is not appalling because the Yankees have a divine right to success. It’s is appalling because the Yankees’ roster is not the roster of the Kansas City Royals, or the Oakland Athletics. It is appalling because going into the season, it appeared that the Yankees had a roster which was the envy of everyone, and had a starting rotation which looked like one of the best, if not the best in the Majors.

Gerrit Cole – Carlos Rodon – Nestor Cortes – Luis Severino – Frankie Montas — and if injuries arose Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt to fall back on.

Injuries came – and too many. Even then the bullpen held up the weight, but by July the relievers were over-tired, and with Aaron Judge injured the team was going nowhere but down.

Continue reading →

The New York Yankees in June – Part One – The Batters (2021)

Posted on July 15, 2021 by twilightdawning

The New York Yankees were a mess in June. You don’t have to take my word – no less luminaries than Brian Cashman and Giancarlo Stanton agree with me and the language they used was far less kind than mine.

Their record for the month was 12 wins and 14 losses. They lost 5 of the last 6 games in the month. At one point, they lost 7 of 9.

Their roster is full of batters who hover around the Mendoza line (.200). There are others who appear way beyond their sell-by date. Let’s survey the team’s performance on the month:

Continue reading →

The New York Yankees in July 2019 (Part One) – The Batters

Posted on August 5, 2019 by twilightdawning

July was a peculiar month for the Yankees. After going 17-9 in June, they found themselves struggling with injuries and below-par pitching and having to settle for a weaker record in the new month. They still, however, came out 14-11 and with a half game increase on their lead in the American League East. The two game series at the end of June in London with the Red Sox which was followed by a two-games series against the Mets at Citi Field can’t have helped – but somehow they got through.

Continue reading →

The New York Yankees in June 2019 (Part Two) – The Pitchers

Posted on July 6, 2019 by twilightdawning

With their surprisingly successful starting pitcher, Domingo German, headed for the injured list on the 9th of the month, where he would stay for most of the rest of June, it was up to the relievers to bolster the pitching staff, even more than they had needed to do in May. Thankfully, the bullpen were more than up to the task. And the arrangement of using Chad Green as an opener paid off even better than it had in May. Green had, by far, his best month of the season.

Again, let’s explore who else led the way:

Continue reading →

The New York Yankees – The Pitchers in the Playoffs (2018)

Posted on November 4, 2018 by twilightdawning

So, as we have seen there were some questionable decisions made by Aaron Boone, the Yankees’ manager, with regard to the batting line-up and substitutions. We, therefore, shouldn’t be surprised that those strange moments weren’t confined to the batting and the defence but affected the pitching too. Can anybody spell Austin Romine?

Continue reading →

The New York Yankees – The Pitchers in August (2018)

Posted on September 14, 2018 by twilightdawning

The Yankees used 8 starters in August. The bullpen was more consistent than the rotation but even there the Yankees lost Aroldis Chapman to the disabled list in the second half of the month. The Yankees had hoped to solve some of their pitching problems by the moves they made at the no-waiver trading deadline but whilst J.A. Happ exceeded expectations, Lance Lynn looked less and less reliable as the month went along.

Continue reading →