The 2011 season is an unusual one for the Yankees. They normally go into Spring Training as the best stocked team in professional baseball. And the emphasis is normally on depth of starting pitching.
Before we turn our attention to 2011 Spring Training…….
In 2008 and 2009, we did something fun called the “Twilight Dawning Baseball Awards”. Once again we’re going to repeat it
When the only bright light in your starting rotation during the last weeks of the season and the playoffs is Andy Pettitte and then Andy Pettitte decides to retire then it is hard to be optimistic:
The post-season and the end of the season were a grim time for New York Yankees fans. First of all some dubious decisions from Joe Girardi saw us blow the American League East title and left us qualifying by Spring Training and then a great series against Minnesota in the ALDS (3-0) was eclipsed by a 4 games to 2 defeat against Texas in the American League Championship Series. Here’s how the batters performed over the last few games of the regular season and those two contrasting post-season series:
Somewhere along the line life became too busy and my opportunities for posting here became too infrequent. Consequently, I never got to post last season’s Yankees October and post-season reports here (and I’m secretly glad that some of you noticed) and didn’t get to award my TWiD player of the season prizes. Over the next few days I am definitely going to rectify that before posting about Spring Training and the 2011 season.
And September was the month when Mariano Rivera went into meltdown when in the year until then he had produced his best ever ERA. How was it really for him and the rest of the pitching staff?
September was the month that finally saw the Yankees falter. At the start of the month, they had the best record in baseball and leadership of the American League East. By the end they were hanging on at 3rd best in the majors and the wild card was their route into the post-season. Despite the general lack of cohesion and direction during these final weeks, some lesser players came up with the goods. Let’s begin with those guys swinging the bat:
The story of the Yankees bullpen in August was Kerry Wood. The finest player on the team was C.C. Sabathia. It is fair to say the pitching had a good month.
The Yankees have maintained their record of being the best team in the majors. In August, one additional factor fell into place – the bullpen. The bullpen which had been previously erratic and with roles constantly changing fell into place with the arrival of Kerry Wood. But before we get to that let’s attempt an overview of the batters – those who were strong, those were weak and those who were just plain confusing……..
twilightdawning 