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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Nineteen – September 29th, 2024

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So, game 162.

And this would prove to be my last game of the season. The news agency had offered me a contract for the post-season, but the need to move house and start a new position in England, was going to mean that there was no way of taking that up.

As in 2023, the last days of the season were visited by blanket rain, which meant delays and just getting generally soaked to the skin. First pitch didn’t come around until 4:36 by my watch.

On the mound? Clarke Schmidt for the New York Yankees who entered the game with a 2.55 ERA and a 5-5 win – loss record which partially concealed that he hadn’t achieved a win since May 16 and had missed a considerable portion of the season through injury. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was Bailey Falter who had an 8-9 record. This was his rookie season and other than not playing in the majors for most of July, he had produced a reasonable season pitching to a 4.17 ERA.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Eighteen – September 28th, 2024

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So, game 161 and as so often happens at this stage of the season, the team who has least to achieve takes their foot off the accelerator and begins to lose.

Going into this game the Yankees had lost three of four, this afternoon to add to their stresses, the Pittsburgh Pirates had elected that potential National League rookie of the year, Paul Skenes should be on the mound. To this point in the season, Skenes is 3 wins – 1 loss with an earned run average of just under two, and September was his best month of the season so far.

The Yankees’ starter is no slouch either as they went with another potential rookie of the year – American League candidate Luis Gil. Gil is 15-6 with an ERA of 3.27.

With the season coming to an end, and little to play for, the main question is how long the Pirates would allow Skenes to remain in the game – how deep in the innings count, they would allow him to go.

My prediction, before the game, if I am honest, would have been that the Yankees would take this one, clinch top seed and Skenes would go five innings and no more. How wrong can you be!

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Sixteen – September 26th, 2024

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So, 4 games to go and 4 games in front. And to be frank things were not going well for the Yankees as the Orioles were two up in the series already.

Now this evening game had a very tough pitching matchup with Gerrit Cole leading off the pitching for the New York team and Orioles’ ace Corbin Burnes the other guy on the mound. This one was wide open and could have gone either way.

Gunnar Henderson hit a fly out to Aaron Judge in centerfield which was followed by two gentle ground outs – Jordan Westburg out 6-3 and then Anthony Santander hitting directly to Antony Rizzo to finish out the Baltimore time at bat.

Burnes suggested he might have the edge tonight. In 9 pitches, he got the first three Yankees’ batters to strike out swinging (Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto and
Aaron Judge).

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Fifteen – September 25th, 2024

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The Yankees went in to the game with their lead cut to five games and playing the team who were five games behind them- the Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore were coming off a convincing win. They had Zach Eflin starting. Prior to this game he was 9 wins, 7 losses with a 3.53 ERA. The Yankees had Marcus Stroman on the mound. He went into the game with a 10-8 record and a 4.04 ERA. Recently, Stroman had been dropped from the Yankees starting rotation and made his last appearance on the 17th as a closer against Seattle in Seattle. He was indeed on long rest.

Orioles went into this one clear favourites.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Fourteen – September 24th, 2024

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Back to attending the games in person…

And so back in the Bronx, and just or more significantly, the Yankees were to face the Baltimore Orioles.

Prior to this game, the Yankees were 6 games clear in the American League East. There were six games to play which meant that if Baltimore won all their remaining games and the Yankees lost theirs… Well, you can do the math. If Baltimore swept the Yankees here, the two teams would be a few steps closer to an unlikely one game playoff to see who would rule the division. Both teams are going to be in the post-season, now it is a battle for home advantage in the playoffs, and to see who would play who – plus the little things like a division title and how many games the Yankees would have in the wins column at the end of the season. They couldn’t make 100, but 98 was not a bad target.

The starting pitchers on the mound would be Dean Kremer for the Orioles and Clarke Schmidt for the New York team. Kremer had appeared in 24 games and taken 7 wins. Schmidt, who had struggled with injuries this season, had ony 13 starts (he had missed the whole of June, July and August) , and taken 5 wins although he had a higher win percentage than Kremer. From compraing just the pitchers’ records this one could go either way.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Ten to Thirteen – September 20th to 23rd, 2024

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So, having finished a successful series in Seattle, the Yankees moved on their road trip to Oakland to face the Athletics.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Five – September 15th, 2024

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A sunny Sunday Autumn afternoon in New York. My favourite version of the song “Autumn in New York” is by Carolyn Leonhart, who is one of Donald Fagen‘s “Danettes“. Great song, great singer, and this promises to be a great game. Final game of four against the great rivals, Boston Red Sox with the New York Yankees needing to win to take the series and Boston able to achieve a tie if they can take a win. so, why it’s not quite all to play for, it is enough to keep it interesting. Let’s have a shilling on the side.

Pitching for the Yankees is Carlos Rodon. For Boston it is Kutter Crawford.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Four – September 14th, 2024

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So, the New York Yankees started the game with a 2-0 lead over the Boston Red Sox in this Bronx series. In recent days, they had edged the games, with extra innings and a remarkable comeback playing their part on different days. These Yankees were not going to lie down.

Game 3 then with Brayan Bello on the mound for Boston, and Yankees ace, Gerrit Cole heightening his teams chances of moving towards a sweep in the series.

… but then there have been many twists in this tale.

And there is room for more.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Three – September 13th, 2024

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And so to the second game of a four game series against the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees had scraped through two in extra innings – one versus Kansas City and the first in the series against Boston – but surely this sequence couldn’t last.

Tonight’s starter was Clarke Schmidt who was another making progress after returning from injury, and hoping to ensure that if the Yankees did progress to the postseason he would be on that roster as a starter.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Two – September 12th, 2024

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Well, Kansas City have left town, but Boston have arrived. The Red Sox bring with them a strong rivalry which means the Yankees’ fans both love having them here and hate them at the same time. Fun as long as nobody takes it too far, and makes it ugly.

Nestor Cortes is starting pitcher today. It is not too long since he was undeservedly demoted to the bullpen, but a strong performance in long relief means that he is back in the starting rotation, with Marcus Stroman now working out of the bullpen.

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