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.
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.
The Yankees had a tremendous month in June. Any team who can bring together a 22-6 record in a calendar month are going to be out there in the lead and the Yankees expanded their lead in their division from 5.5 to 12.5. A truly impressive series of performances.
Also, to this point in the season the Yankees are managing to remain injury free. They have had relatively few new injuries and some of their long time unavailable players are working their way back.
The Yankees’ pitchers are on-the-whole doing amazingly this season. If at this time last year, we would have predicted that Clay Holmes would have signed with the Yankees from Pittsburgh and would have the record that shows in our table below, across a whole calendar month, then you would have been convinced that I was fooling. And I would have never have been that foolish.
Furthermore, after two months we are talking about Nestor Cortes as a possible Cy Young candidate, and yet there are 6 members of the bullpen (Nestor has the best May ERA of the starters) who have ERAs superior to his and some of those are people who you’d expect to be in the relief corps all season long. Strange days indeed.
The New York Yankees were 19-9 in May. Their form is astounding. If the batters are off-the-pace, then the pitchers are phenomenal. And vice versa. If the starter crumbles than the bullpen is everything they need to give them the opportunity to get back in the game.
Occasionally, the run support is not there for the pitchers – as indicated in our table, where 10 batters had batting averages below .230 on the month.
The New York Yankees of September were not the New York Yankees of August. From the 4th to the 10th of the month, they had a 7 game losing streak. However, later in the month (20th to 28th) they were to match this with a 7 game winning streak.
Inconsistency was their watchword.
This all meant that they only closed the gap on Tampa Bay by one game across the whole month and as the month came to an end, they were locked in a blockbuster situation with only three games to play. They still needed to head off Boston, Toronto and Seattle to earn one of the Wildcard places and this was going right down to the wire.
Most of the batters struggled. Some were pretty good…
The Yankees 14-9 record in July was due in no small part to their pitching. Their record improved after the All-Star break. They were 9-5 afterwards, 5-4 before.
The Yankees brought in two new pitchers at the trading deadline – Andrew Heaney (SP) from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Joely Rodriguez (RP) from the Texas Rangers but neither of them made their debut for their new club before the end of July.
Heaney was traded for minor leaguers, Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero (both right-handers). Joely Rodriguez may be more of a make-weight, as there is no question that the Yankees main target in the trade was outfielder, Joey Gallo. The players who went in the opposite direction were right-hander pitcher, Glenn Otto and infielders Josh H.Smith, Ezequiel Duran and Trevor Hauver.
In addition, they had added Clay Holmes (RP) from the Pittsburgh Pirates on the 26th of the month in exchange for Hoy Park and Diego Castillo. A curious move saw relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson join the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for a player to be named later. It was no surprise that the Yankees wanted to offload Wilson because the veteran has struggled all season long but giving up Cessa who has had a solid year and been with the Yankees for a number of years when they weren’t particularly targeting anybody in return is strange.
Let’s look at the pitchers who play in July, beginning with the starters…
Continue readingThe New York Yankees seemed to begin to turn a corner in July and their results improved – particularly in the second half of the month.
It is difficult to analyse exacly why but strangely the results started to improve when many of their first choice roster members became unavailable and were replaced partially by untried players and partially by journeymen, perhaps spotting one final opportunity to breakthrough.
Some of those regulars were unavailable because of conventional injuries. Others were forced into isolation by positive Covid tests which hit the roster in ever-increasing numbers.
On the face of it, having to subtract Aaron Judge from the selection of available outfielders and add in Greg Allen, who in four previous stints in the Major Leagues (with Cleveland and San Diego) had managed to hit around .230, was not a recipe designed for success – but somehow the energy and enthusiasm of the new faces seemed to work.
Let’s survey the statistics of the offensive players in the month of July…
As previously noted, the New York Yankees have not had the start to the season that they expected in 2021. However, it is the start of the season that they deserved. With the season a third complete, they finished May at 29-25 and in third position.
Instead of hoping to win the American League East, they are more likely to be targeting the second wildcard spot and only then if their bats begin to do their work.
In May, their pitching was less culpable than the batting line-up in adding to their woes.
Let’s survey the strengths and weaknesses of the players who took the mound:
The New York Yankees finished April at 12 wins – 14 losses and in 4th place in the 5 team American League East. For a team who were expected to dominate the division, things clearly were not going to plan. Noises were made about Kyle Higashioka becoming the first choice catcher and Gary Sanchez being seen much more often warming the bench. Tyler Wade and Wandy Peralta were added to the active roster. One or two things seemed to be falling into place.
By the middle of May, the team sat in second place with a record of 22-17. That’s 10-3 over that period.
And then things began to turn again. Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton and Rougned Odor had headed to the injured list. As a partial balance, 1b Luke Voit (last season’s leading home run hitter) was back.
But things were still not going the way the guys from the Bronx wanted. The second half of the month went 7-8 and the Yankees closed out the month with a run of 4 losses
Let’s see who was struggling and who was holding their own:
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