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.
Continue readingSo, 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!
Continue readingThe 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.
Continue readingAs you will have seen in our batting coverage, the Yankees had another bad month in July. They are very thankful indeed for the start they had before June.
July was 11 wins and 13 losses. Imagine how it would have been if it wasn’t for the 5 straight wins they racked up between the 27th and the 31st of the month. They bounced back from a one game deficit in Boston to take the series 2-1, and then swept the National League’s strongest, Philadelphia 3 games to zero.
During that period the pifching started to bounce back after what had been otherwise a very weak month – especially for the starting rotation.
Continue reading
twilightdawning 