twilightdawning

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

The New York Yankees in March / April – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

Posted on May 6, 2025 by twilightdawning

The Yankees rolled to a 3-0 start in March, but there were notes of caution with new signing and staff ace, Max Fried getting off to a difficult first start – despite a no-decision, he began with a 3.86 and a 1.93 WHIP. The Yankees need Fried to perform well with Gerrit Cole gone for the season.

Also going through a struggle was new and expensive signing, Devin Williams who the Yankees signed despite seemingly have a great closer already in Luke Weaver. Williams and the 9th inning weren’t getting along. In his one March appearance, he ran up a 9.00 ERA and a 3.00 WHIP.

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The Best New York Yankees of 2024

Posted on November 4, 2024 by twilightdawning

Each season, we award to players’ rankings according to outstanding performances during the season. Using this system, here’s how the Batters and Pitchers of the New York Yankees placed:

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The New York Yankees in October – Part Two – The Pitchers (2024)

Posted on November 1, 2024 by twilightdawning

So, we have seen that the batters with the exception of Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto performed largely indifferently in October. This, of course, meant that if the Yankees were to carry on to win the championship then the pitchers would need to produce at a level above and beyond their usual. Let’s just say that, particularly in the case of the starters, this never even looked close to happening.

The bullpen did well, but by the time they came to the mound some games were already lost.

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The New York Yankees in September – Part Two – The Pitchers (2024)

Posted on October 8, 2024 by twilightdawning

The Yankees used 6 starters and 14 relievers in September. Marcus Stroman‘s continuing struggles made him look very much like the 6th starter for the future, which is not an enviable place to be in going into the playoffs.

All-in-all though, the team was looking strong in terms of pitching, and they had more than enough arms to give them confidence going forward.

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

Posted on October 5, 2024 by twilightdawning

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 Ten to Thirteen – September 20th to 23rd, 2024

Posted on September 26, 2024 by twilightdawning

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 Six to Nine – September 16th to 19th, 2024

Posted on September 23, 2024 by twilightdawning

With nobody willing to sponsor me to travel on the roadtrip, I get to follow the Yankees’ away games from sunny New York. I exchange Yankee Stadium for Ground Central Coffee Company on 45th street where I report on the series against the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics.

And so to Seattle in my mind…

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

Posted on September 17, 2024 by twilightdawning

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 One – September 11th, 2024

Posted on September 13, 2024 by twilightdawning

Last time in New York, I was following Steely Dan on tour as they accompanied the Eagles on their “Long Goodbye” – that was the Eagles goodbye, not the Dan’s (but who can tell). This time I’m once more working on a commission to watch baseball and report on the New York Yankees. Tough life.

Having flown into JFK on the 9th, I took a “jetlag” day on the 10th, and reported to the Stadium on the 11th. Significant date. 23rd anniversary of that horrible day. The Yankees placed their memorials. Police officers sang the National Anthem and God Bless America.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part Two – The Pitchers (2024)

Posted on September 6, 2024 by twilightdawning

The pitchers turned the New York Yankees around in August, after the nosedive of June and July. Their amazing start in March, April and May meant that they were always going to be in contention, but a 14-12 month was enough to put them back to the top of their division.

The starting rotation combined for 12 of those wins, and the bullpen made up mostly of names that were not well-known, combined to keep the team in contention in most games.

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