Tag Archives: paul blackburn

A New York Yankees Diary – Day Eight – September 9th, 2026

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Having taken a 1 game to zip lead in this series against the Colorado Rockies, the Yankees were hoping that Will Warren would help them secure a 2-0 lead as tonight’s game started at 7.09pm.

Jake McCarthy who had a decidedly mixed time of it in the first game, opened this game by lining out to Spencer Jones in centerfield. This was followed by Cole Carrigg stepping up to the plate. A long at bat resulted in a called third strike which Carrigg challenged but the call on the field was confirmed.

TJ Rumfield was gifted a soft walk, but clean-up man Hunter Goodman hit a ground ball back to Warren who threw it over to Luis Garcia Jr to end the top of the first.

36 year old, Tomoyuki Sugano was on the mound tonight for the Rockies. Prior to this game, he was 12-8 on the season. He showed great acomplished pitching as he got all three Yankees’ batters to strike out swinging – Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger & Aaron Judge. This was Judge’s 4th strikeout since his return from the Injured List (IL).

However, that feat of striking out three consecutive batters swinging was matched by Warren as he took down Mickey Moniak, Kyle Karros and Brett Sullivan in similar fashion. This was evidently going to be another tight dual of the starting pitchers.

But Colorado, the weakest team in the Major Leagues right now, know better to count their chickens before they are hatched (or the additional games going into the Win column).

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New York Yankees in very early September (2026)

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As is my way, I flew into New York on September for a month of close-up baseball observation. As I mentioned in my August articles, the New York Yankees are struggling to gather runs but also not conceding many. Their hitting is weak, but their piching is close to being immaculate.

In the six game West Coast roadtrip that began August 31 and covered Los Angeles (facing the Angels) and San Diego, they won three and lost three. They scored 24 runs (averaging 4 per game), and gave up 24 (obviously also averaging 4 a game. Two of these games went to 10 innings – they won one of these and lost one. They lost one game 1-10. This was the game that Elmer Rodriguez started and was covered in our previous pitching article.

Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon were the starting pitchers in their two most convincing wins (on the 1st and 5th). However, Cole took the loss in a close one on the 6th when he gave up three homers in the first inning, from which the Yankees never really recovered.

David Bednar took the win in a close one on the 2nd and continues to show great form. However, Paul Blackburn had something of an abberation in the game on the 4th, coming in the beginning of the 10th with a 2-1 lead to protect. He gave up a two-run home run to Luis Campusano for the walk off.

During the last days of the road trip, the best batting average was shared by Trent Grisham and Ben Rice. Both had hit .500. Grisham had an OPS of 1.167 whilst Rice had an OPS of 1.267 , but this is skewed by the fact that Grisham only played two games in this period before once again landing on the injured list.

Cody Bellinger hit a soild .278 and Spencer Jones .267. George Lombard Jr. (.100), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (.111) and Heliot Ramos (.125) were amongst those who struggled most with the bat. The figures in bracket indicate the batting average during the last 7 days of the roadtrip – including days off.

Once more we must note that the bats must come back to life as they return to New York, especially for the all important series against Tampa Bay later in the month.

The New York Yankees in August – Part Two – The Pitchers (2026)

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The Yankees only came through August with more wins than losses because of their starting rotation and a few elite relievers. The batters contributed little. The fielding was often gauche and clumsy.

In the month, they used 7 starters. This heightened number was necessary because Max Fried went on the the Injured list (IL) (17th, retroactive to 14th), Ryan Weathers went onto the IL (23rd, left forearm flexor strain), and Elmer Rodriguez was recalled from Scranton (Triple-A). Oh, what a merry-go-round!. Let’s see how it all went.

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The New York Yankees in July – Part Two – The Pitchers (2026)

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Another month and more inconsistency from the Yankees. Their 14-11 record in July showed how much their starters were struggling but also how much their relievers were stepping up to keep them in it in close games.

Carlos Rodon started the month going on the injured list but perhaps this was balanced by Max Fried‘s return on the 22nd.

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The New York Yankees in June – Part Two – The Pitchers (2026)

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The Yankees’ pitching in June was not what they had hoped for. They were still carrying injuries – Max Fried is a long-term absentee, and the rest of the starting rotation – which was a strength in May – was not handling things well.

David Bednar who struggled in the previous month was back on form and Tim Hill who was improved on his last month’s performance too was getting little run support and despite a healthy WHIP was conceding more runs than he should.

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The New York Yankees in May – Part Two – The Pitchers (2026)

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In May, the Yankees went 16-12 and despite Gerrit Cole returning to the roster and Cam Schlittler maintaining his excellent form, the starting rotation was worse than it had been in the months of March and April. Something of a mystery!

Two relievers who were called up briefly did very well – Yovanny Cruz and Yerry De Los Santos – but because of the strength of the bullpen they were soon returned to the minors.

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The New York Yankees in March / April – Part Two – The Pitchers (2026)

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The Yankees’ starting rotation. even with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon out injured, looked really strong on opening day. Despite Ryan Weathers not having a great Spring Training, he is a good addition.

The bullpen looked more questionable, but the hope was with strong starting and David Bednar to finish out the games, it was hoped it would be strong enough.

By the end of April, the rotation was carrying the weight with some batters and some relievers struggling, but the Yankees reached the end of the month with a 1.5 lead at the head of the American League East.

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The New York Yankees in March / April – Part One – The Batters (2026)

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New York Yankees – March 4-1.

New York Yankees – April 16-10

At the end of March, they were in a tie for first place in the American League. By the end of April, they had opened a lead of 1.5 games.

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The New York Yankees in October – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

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The Yankees’ batting almost completely stalled (with the exception of Aaron Judge) which left the pitching staff with way too much weight to carry. Sadly the starters also hit a slump and in the Division series they were swept aside.

Very, very easily indeed.

Only a couple of the relievers (one of them amazingly being Devin Williams) and one starter were up to the task and this left the Yankees all at sea.

Let’s see who were the ones who fell apart and who stood up to the task:

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The New York Yankees in September – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

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As we have seen in our first article, the Yankees had their best month of the season in September, but their loss of form in previous months meant that it was too little, too late to catch the Toronto Blue Jays.

There were a few players on the pitching staff who lost their way in September and others who simply weren’t available because of its injury. This meant that youth had its day and the batting of Aaron Judge and the outstanding starters resulted in that 18-7 September record.

Let’s see who led the way:

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