twilightdawning

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

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

Posted on July 5, 2019 by twilightdawning

The New York Yankees did not quite maintain their May level of performance in June but they weren’t still far off that pace.

In June, they had the somewhat bizarre London series which produced 50 runs in two days to inflate the earned run average (ERA), runs scored and batting average columns.

https://twilightdawning.com/2019/07/03/professional-baseball-in-the-uk/

Despite winning those two “road” games, the Yankees finished the month 17-9, compared to 20-7 in May.

However, they had finished May only one and a half games ahead in the division. Now with Tampa Bay falling off the pace, they led by 7 games.

Let’s see who led the way with the lumber:

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The New York Yankees in March and April 2019 (Part One) – The Batters

Posted on May 4, 2019 by twilightdawning

The New York Yankees had the most amazing start to a baseball season in their history but unfortunately, it wasn’t in the Wins column (although they didn’t too badly in that respect). Rather it was in terms of players heading to the (now renamed) injured list (IL). Let’s see what happened:

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The New York Yankees – The Batters in September (2018)

Posted on October 8, 2018 by twilightdawning

The Yankees seemed rather to take their eye off the ball, metaphorically speaking, in September. They finished the month with a 15-12 record which was enough to seal their wildcard spot and even to give them home-field advantage in the forthcoming playoffs, but along the way the management made some peculiar and bewildering decisions in terms of who was on the field of play. Let’s look in this first article at the batters who exploded and those who really struggled.

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

Posted on September 13, 2018 by twilightdawning

The Yankees form had taken a dip by the time the season reached August and the dog days. From a .281 batting average (BA) in the month of July, they fell to a team .240 in the eighth month and a 17-13 win/loss record. Part of this was due to under-performance (let’s all say Greg Bird together and shake our heads sadly). Part of this was due to injury (Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, although whether in Sanchez’s case that’s a blessing or a curse remains to be seen) but mostly it is down to over-performers coming down to earth. However, that tandem of wonder-rookies, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar are still playing everyday and still showing great ability (at least offensively). Read on…

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New York Yankees – The Batters in July (2018)

Posted on August 3, 2018 by twilightdawning

The Yankees weren’t great in July but they weren’t that bad either. They won exactly three-fifths (15-10) of their games. They suffered a fall of form from lead pitcher Luis Severino and most of the bullpen which meant the batters needed to turn it up a notch. Let’s see who did:

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New York Yankees – The Batters in June (2018)

Posted on July 5, 2018 by twilightdawning

The Yankees were great in May and they managed to continue that excellent trend in June – so important because Boston are showing no signs of slowing down. The Yankees are going to need to keep winning if they are going to finish ahead in this two-horse race. In June, they won exactly two thirds of their games. Let’s see who amongst the batters was lifting the most weight:

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New York Yankees – The Batters in March and April (2018)

Posted on May 8, 2018 by twilightdawning

The Major League Baseball season was quickly out of the traps this year with the New York Yankees’ opening game coming as early as the 29th of March. Unfortunately, the team were not as quick getting started (neither was the weather, the 2nd of April home opener was snowed out) and the team looked decidedly average and lukewarm until the middle of April. After that things came together in a very exciting way.

Let’s see who the players pushing that momentum were. Batters up first:

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The New York Yankees in Spring Training – An Overview – Part One (2018)

Posted on March 28, 2018 by twilightdawning

(Normally I would have far more coverage of Spring Training than I have this year but with Easter coming early, my other preoccupations have prevented that. My apologies to my regular readers).

If you would have asked me at the end of the 2017 which position the Yankees would sign someone new for in the off-season, my prediction would not have been rightfield. Rookie of the year, Aaron Judge, it seemed had that all stitched up.

Also, if you’d asked me who after Judge was the least likely player to leave, one of my first choices would have been 2b Starlin Castro who impressed so much at the plate and defensively and proved a fearsome double play combination with Didi Gregorius.

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The New York Yankees in September – The Batters (2017)

Posted on October 8, 2017 by twilightdawning

includes 1st October (to end of regular season)

The New York Yankees were sensational with their bats during September – especially Jacoby Ellsbury who was so consistent and Aaron Judge who having struggled with his mechanics since the All-Star break suddenly bounced back with immense power. Let’s look at how the whole line-up performed:

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The New York Yankees – The Batters in August (2017)

Posted on September 2, 2017 by twilightdawning

Aaron Judge was hot and untouchable in the first half of the season. Now either the opposition pitchers have caught up to him or something else is wrong. Fortunately, Gary Sanchez who was very much in his shadow before the All-Star break, has exploded offensively in the last month. The Yankees are clearly concerned about some defensive kinks he has behind the plate but it is thanks to him and guys like Didi Gregorius that the Yankees’ ship is still afloat and in a promising position to take the first wildcard spot -although they are looking increasingly less likely to catch Boston for the division lead.

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