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October 31, 2024

Schadenfreude 358 (A Continuing Series) 





Game 5
Dodgers - 000 050 020 - 7  7  0
Yankees - 311 001 000 - 6  8  3
YED!
2024 EDITION

Yankee Elimination Days
YED 2001 - November 4
YED 2002 - October 5
YED 2003 - October 25
YED 2004 - October 20
YED 2005 - October 10
YED 2006 - October 7
YED 2007 - October 8
YED 2008 - September 23
YED 2010 - October 22
YED 2011 - October 6
YED 2012 - October 18
YED 2013 - September 25
YED 2014 - September 24
YED 2015 - October 6
YED 2016 - September 29
YED 2017 - October 21
YED 2018 - October 9
YED 2019 - October 19
YED 2020 - October 9
YED 2021 - October 5
YED 2022 - October 23
YED 2023 - September 24
YED 2024 - OCTOBER 30

Bottoms up, motherfuckers!




This one will sting. This one will leave a mark. There will be days and nights in the weeks and months to come when this game is going to visit you – in your sleep, daydreaming in your office, lamenting with friends around a water cooler. . . .

The Yankees lost Game 5 of the 120th World Series last night, 7-6, and it is almost impossible to understand how that happened. . . . 

They led 5-0. Gerrit Cole threw four no-hit innings, at one point extending a two-game Yankees streak to 27 retired Dodgers in a row. He was everything he has always promised . . . The crowd at Yankee Stadium, 49,263 strong, was planning for a three-hour party, and then a night, Thursday, to catch their breath and soothe their voice boxes before Game 6 Friday. 

Before continuing a quest to heal that two-decade wound. 

Then, in an eyeblink, it was 5-5. 

And that was impossible to understand, too. Aaron Judge. . . dropped a fly ball. 

Wait. He did what? 

Yes. He dropped a fly ball, off Tommy Edman's bat. It was a Little League fly, too. If he sees that exact same ball a thousand times — no, make that 100,000 times — he catches it 99,999 of them. It was inexplicable. And then Anthony Volpe . . . bookended it with a poor throw to third on a ball in the hole. 

You can't give the White Sox five outs in an inning and expect to get away with it; you sure can't give a team with 108 wins like the Dodgers five outs. . . . [Cole] nearly got away with it. He struck out Gavin Lux . . . He struck out Shohei Ohtani . . . And then he got Mookie Betts to ground meekly to first. 

He was going to get out of it. 

Except he suffered a brain cramp at the worst possible moment. He failed to cover first base. . . .

(Follow-up: you REALLY can't give the Dodgers SIX outs and expect to get away with it.) 

They didn't get away with it. . . .

Now begins the long, endless offseason, one of the longest Yankees fans have endured in decades. . . . 

The end is cruel. The whole sport is cruel. . . .

"This," Gerrit Cole said, "is as bad as it gets."


Jon Heyman, Post
The Yankees staged a keen competition in a tension-filled Game 5 of the World Series, and it was with themselves.

It was once again the Yankees' overwhelming talent vs. their underwhelming carelessness.

It was their skillfulness vs. their sloppiness.

Turns out their talent couldn't quite carry the day, which ended in devastating defeat and painful elimination as the Dodgers, very skilled yet significantly more solid, were crowned World Series champions. . . .

The Yankees were hoping to join the 2004 Red Sox as the only team to win a postseason series of any sort after falling behind 3-0 in games, which, you'll recall was done against the Yankees in the ALCS. But instead . . . their first Fall Classic appearance in 15 years ended in heartbreak.

The Yankees couldn't quite outplay their mistakes, blowing leads of 5-0 and 6-5. . . . [A]bject overall negligence did them in. . . .

Gerrit Cole pitched into the seventh without allowing an earned run — although there were five unearned runs from an unforgettable nightmare of a fifth inning.

That's when the Dodgers tied the score with the aid of errors by Judge and Anthony Volpe and a failure to record an out on a routine bases-loaded, two-out grounder by Mookie Betts to first base . . . on a play that could have kept the inning scoreless.

In the end, absentmindedness trumped ability.


It was the inning from hell, and it helped end the Yankees season.

The top of the fifth of Game 5 of the World Series started with the Yankees up 5-0 and Gerrit Cole tossing a no-hitter.

It ended with the game tied, and what had been a party at Yankee Stadium started to feel like a funeral . . .

Kiké Hernandez led off the inning with the Dodgers' first hit of the night, a single to right, and The Bronx faithful gave Cole a quiet cheer for his four no-hit innings.

That's when things got weird.

Aaron Judge . . . dropped a routine fly ball by Tommy Edman. . . .

Hernandez had gone back to first base, but reversed course and raced to second in time to beat Judge's throw.

It was Judge's first error of the year, either in the regular season or the playoffs. . . .

Then Will Smith sent a grounder to shortstop. Anthony Volpe went to his right and fielded it, but he bounced a rushed throw to third and Jazz Chisholm Jr. couldn't come up with it, so Edman was safe at third and the bases were loaded with no one out.

That's when Cole put his ace hat on . . . He whiffed Gavin Lux for the first out . . . Cole followed by striking out Shohei Ohtani . . . 

Just an out away from an incredible escape, Cole still had to get through Mookie Betts. . . .

Betts squibbed a grounder to first, and Anthony Rizzo, never the fastest of players, didn't charge the slow chopper.

Worse, Cole — who initially started moving to first to cover the base — stopped and just pointed at first base, thinking Rizzo could get there in time and didn't cover the base.

A hustling Betts easily beat Rizzo to the base. The infield hit made it 5-1, as Edman scored.

Instead of the inning being over and the Yankees up by five runs, World Series home-run machine Freddie Freeman became the seventh batter to the plate, and he drilled a two-run single to center.

Suddenly, it was 5-3, and Cole and the Yankees were teetering toward disaster.

But wait, it got worse.

Teoscar Hernandez came up and blasted a two-run double off the wall in center, a 404-foot shot that tied the game at 5-5.

What had seemed almost impossible to imagine as the fifth inning got underway was a reality.

Still, Cole remained on the mound as Tommy Kahnle, who blew the game for good in the eighth, began to get loose in the bullpen. . . .

In the end, Cole threw 38 pitches in the frame after needing just 49 pitches to get through the first four innings.
Zach Braziller, Post
Gerrit Cole was cruising. The Yankees bats had come alive. It was 5-0 after four innings and the Dodgers didn't have a hit.

The World Series felt destined for Friday night in Los Angeles.

Then it all came crashing down . . . Defense played a major part, including his own failure to cover first base, but Cole also couldn't put away Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez in a big spot. . . .

Cole flushed [Is this an homage to George King III?] a five-run lead in their season-ending, 7-6 loss to the Dodgers at the Stadium on Wednesday night. . . .

"It's the worst feeling you can have. … It's just brutal." . . .

While errors by Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe on back-to-back plays enabled the Dodgers to load the bases with no outs, Cole was within one out of getting out of the jam after striking out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani. 

Cole, however, failed to cover first base on a Mookie Betts roller to Anthony Rizzo, allowing the Dodgers' first run to score.

Cole said afterward that he misread the spin on the ball, thinking he could field it and took a poor angle. . . .

Cole couldn't finish off either Freeman or Hernandez, allowing two-strike hits to both that enabled the Dodgers to get even at 5-5. . . .

Cole couldn't make the five-run lead stand up. The Yankees are going home.

Mark W. Sanchez, Post
The Yankees now hurdle into an offseason of uncertainty after a season of . . . far too many mistakes and ultimately yet more disappointment. . . .

Dave Roberts's group fought its way out of a five-run hole, with the hosts' help, and celebrated on the field in The Bronx in a dramatic, 7-6, Game 5 Yankees loss on Wednesday that was part heartbreaker and part self-inflicted head-shaker. . . .

Aaron Judge . . . will return but for what will be his 33-year-old season.

As (likely) will Gerrit Cole, who . . . will turn 35 in September.

Giancarlo Stanton will reach his 35th birthday next week. The core is aging, and maybe the window is beginning to close without a title. . . .

[T]hey left 12 on base, went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position . . .

In a season in which the Yankees continually attempted to out-hit their mistakes, those mistakes made the difference in an inning that will haunt this franchise. . . .

Such is how the Yankees' season died: Bemoaning what could have been . . . while watching what was — a World Series that slipped away.


Joel Sherman, Post
From the first day of spring training to the last, nothing is more common in each camp than pitcher's fielding practice. . . .

Day after day. The routine. The monotony. . . . [N]one is more practiced than ground ball to first, pitcher gets over to cover. It is designed to make sure the most basic of plays is executed correctly.

So fittingly, it executed these 2024 Yankees — perhaps the most technically unsound team to ever get this far.

In a slapstick fifth inning in which the Yankees played all their greatest hits — or, more familiarly, errors — they still would have survived had Anthony Rizzo and Gerrit Cole completed a Baseball 101 play. But in the worst World Series blunder at first since perhaps the ball going by Billy Buckner, both made mistakes of omission.

And the Yankee season is over because of it . . .

The Yankees lost the first game of the World Series and the last game of the 2024 MLB season because they are bad at baseball. In those two games, they handed away outs and 90 extra feet like the kindest Santa in the world. . . .

[M]ultiple Yankees talked in a losing clubhouse about "mistakes" that doomed them as if they were not within the team's control to prevent. Since mid-February. And, really, longer than that.

These Yankees, after all, have been on a rinse, repeat cycle as to how they lose in the postseason during the Aaron Judge Era. Their fundamental maladies are overcome against inferior AL Central opponents, but when the degree of October difficulty rises, the Yankees crumble.

The Yankees were 31-9 (.775) against the AL Central (postseason included) this year and 71-65 (.522) against everyone else. They have played seven rounds against the AL Central in the playoffs since 2017, including two to win the AL pennant this year, and advanced through all seven. They have played eight rounds against everyone else and won only one, the one-game wild card in 2018 vs. the A's . . .

They won one World Series game this year — Game 4, when the Dodgers threw none of their main pitchers: The AL Central of strategies. . . .

"You have to limit mistakes," Judge said. "You don't give your opponent a chance to breathe."

The Yankees all but built an oxygen tent to revive the Dodgers . . .

[Judge] dropped a routine fly to center with one on and none out in the fifth. He said there was no reason for what was his first error all year. Anthony Volpe then spiked a ball that Chisholm could not corral at third and the bases were loaded . . . [Cole got two outs and Betts] squibbed [a] grounder to first.

Rizzo said he laid back on it because of the English on the ball, but attacking it would have allowed him to make the play unassisted. Cole said he initially broke as if to try to grab the grounder — which was not really that close to him — and that set him off on a bad pathway to cover first … and he just stopped. Neither made it to the bag. Betts did. An inning-ending groundout instead became an RBI single. . . .

The routine becoming not routine. The Yankees being the 2024 Yankees. . . .

The Yankees would actually take a 6-5 lead in the sixth, but it was an inning in which they had three walks and no hits. They drew eight walks from the second to eighth innings and that was the lone one that scored. They went 1-for-10 overall with runners in scoring position. . . .

[T]he story of the 2024 Yankees was finalized — beneficiaries of a favorable draw, talented enough to get to the World Series, but again not technically sound enough to beat a heavyweight opponent.

Michael Blinn, Post
The Yankees' error-prone ways in Game 5 on Wednesday night at the Stadium didn't stop with their fifth-inning implosion.

Bombers backstop Austin Wells was tagged for catcher's interference in the eighth inning in a play that the Dodgers immediately took advantage of.

The Dodgers came into the inning trailing 6-5 but pounced on Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle, with Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman singling before Will Smith walked on four pitches to load the bases with no outs. . . .

[Facing Luke Weaver] Gavin Lux hit a sacrifice fly to score Hernandez.

That brought up Shohei Ohtani . . . [who] fouled off Weaver's 89.7 MPH changeup but nicked the webbing of Wells' mitt as he came around — and earned a trip to first due to interference.

The Yankees' challenge did not go their way, nor did the following at-bat, in which Mookie Betts sent a sac fly to center field, scoring Edman for a 7-6 lead.

Derek Jeter Hasn't Seen Anything Like This Yankees World Series Meltdown
Erich Richter, Post

This didn't happen in Derek Jeter's era.

In an inning that featured two errors on routine plays and another crushing gaffe, the Yankees blew a five-run lead to the Dodgers en route to a 7-6 defeat in an embarrassing close to their season.

"I don't know if I've ever quite seen an inning like this, especially in a World Series or postseason game." [Jeter] said . . . on Fox's postgame show. "The Yankees made some mistakes, you can't make mistakes against a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that particular inning, you gave them six outs." . . .

Jeter's ex-Yankees teammate Alex Rodriguez, who was a part of the 2004 Yankees which blew a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox, [said] "This is one of the greatest meltdowns that I've ever seen in 40 years" . . .

With the year over and the sourest of tastes in their mouth, the Yankees have tons of question marks to answer this winter. . . .

Juan Soto heads to free agency and he said that the Yankees do not have the edge when it comes to re-signing him. 

What Went Wrong On Disastrous Yankees Play In Crushing World Series Moment

Will Zimmerman, Post

It was the debacle to end all debacles.

A miscommunication between Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and first baseman Anthony Rizzo on a routine ground ball contributed to one of the most cataclysmic innings in Yankees history on Wednesday, when the Bombers let Game 5 slip out of their hands . . .

The Yankees held a five-run lead at the top of the fifth inning and seemed poised to keep their World Series dreams alive.

That all came crashing down following a series of blunders, which included a botched throw to third base by shortstop Anthony Volpe and a muffed line-drive catch by Aaron Judge, allowing the Dodgers to creep back into the game.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Dodgers star Mookie Betts hit a grounder to first with Rizzo failing to charge while Cole — who initially ran toward the bag — stopped. . . .

"I looked up to flip [the ball to Cole] and, uh, that's what happened…" . . .

"Pitchers are always taught to get over, no matter what," Rizzo said. . . .



Zach Braziller, Post
Aaron Judge . . . was unable to come up with a Tommy Edman line drive with a runner on and nobody out in the fifth inning, an error that led to a five-run frame for the Dodgers in their World Series-clinching, 7-6 victory over the Yankees in Game 5 in The Bronx on Wednesday night. . . .

Asked what went wrong, he said: "I just didn't make it."

Judge had company in the fifth. Anthony Volpe made an error immediately after and with a chance to get out of the inning unscathed, Gerrit Cole failed to cover first base on a slowly hit grounder by Mookie Betts to Anthony Rizzo.

The floodgates opened from there, but it all started with the Judge drop, as five unearned runs crossed against Gerrit Cole. . . .

[Judge] doubled in the eighth with one out and the Yankees down a run. But they couldn't push the tying run across. . . .

Instead of getting ready to board a plane back to Los Angeles, the Yankees' season ended Wednesday night. . . .

[Judge] hit .184 and struck out 20 times in 49 [postseason] at-bats. . . . October success has proven elusive for him. That trend continued Wednesday night.

"I think falling short in the World Series will stick with me til the day I die, probably," Judge said.
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October 29, 2024

Schadenfreude 357 (A Continuing Series) 


Game 3
Dodgers - 201 001 000 - 4  5  0
Yankees - 000 000 002 - 2  5  1


Yankees' Season On The Brink After Lifeless Effort In Game 3 Of World Series
Greg Joyce, Post

If the Yankees are going to come back to win the World Series, they will have to make history. 

But on Monday, they only inched closer to being history. 

Back home for The Bronx's first World Series game in 15 years, one that Anthony Rizzo had called a "must-win game," the Yankees turned in another dud, falling 4-2 to the Dodgers to go down [0-3] in the series . . .

There have been 24 teams that have fallen behind [0-3] in the World Series and none of them have come back to win it. Of course, only one team in MLB history has ever come back from a [0-3] deficit in any best-of-seven playoff series, and it was the Red Sox against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. . . .

The Yankees have not been swept in the World Series since the Reds beat them in 1976. 

The Dodgers struck immediately with Freddie Freeman's two-run homer off Clarke Schmidt in the top of the first and it did not get much better from there as the crowd lost steam with little to cheer for over the course of a chilly night. 

The Yankees did not have a hit off Walker Buehler until the fourth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton roped a one-out double to left field. But with two outs, Stanton was thrown out at home trying to score from second on Anthony Volpe's single. It took a perfect throw from left fielder Teoscar Hernandez, whose one-hopper landed in a spot that allowed catcher Will Smith to slap a quick tag on Stanton. . . .

Schmidt started his night off by not making Shohei Ohtani and his subluxed left shoulder swing at all in his first plate appearance, walking him on four pitches. 

One out later, the red-hot Freeman turned on a cutter at the top of the zone and crushed it to right field for a two-run homer and the 2-0 lead. Freeman . . . has homered in all three games this series and in five straight World Series games (dating to 2021 with [Atlanta]), tying an MLB record. . . .

Yankees Only Have One Hope To Pull Off Red Sox-Like Miracle
Mike Vaccaro, Post

Who's going to play the part of Kevin Millar on Tuesday afternoon? Jazz Chisholm Jr.? Chisholm has Millar's chattiness. Maybe it'll be Gerrit Cole. Cole is a loud and ardent leader. . . .

Twenty years later, it'll take two things for the Yankees to be able to balance the scales of baseball justice. Twenty years after becoming the first — and still only — baseball team to squander a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven, this would be a good time to channel those detested Red Sox and find something inside themselves starting Tuesday. 

That's when they will report to work down [0-3] . . .

Now, they need to do the worst thing imaginable: close their eyes, bite down hard, swallow harder and … emulate the Red Sox.  . . .

The kind of confidence Millar and his mates had would be useful, sure. More important . . . The Yankees need Judge [hitting .083 in the World Series] to show up. Period. STAT, as they used to say on "ER." 

It's no longer enough to say it'd be "nice" if he got on track. It's no longer feasible to build an argument that the Yankees can somehow survive in this series by carrying Judge instead of the other way around. It's past time to laud Judge for taking "good at-bats," like the one he took in the eighth inning, a six-pitch walk off LA righty Ryan Brasier. 

No. Not good enough. 

The Yankees need more. . . . David Ortiz is in the building; that was the biggest element of the Sox's miracle 20 years ago. In Games 3 through 7, Big Papi had a 1.199 OPS. That included home runs in Games 4, 5 and 7 and nine of the most essential RBIs ever collected over a four-game stretch. He was Superman. 

The Yankees need their Superman. . . .

"He'll come ready to go. He's Aaron Judge," said Boone . . .

Yankees fans treated him warmly, as expected, and will do so Tuesday night, for sure, even after another 0-for-3, even as his postseason average frittered to .140. He's running out of season now, and the Yankees are running out of time. . . .

The Question Dave Roberts Wouldn't Answer After Dodgers Take 3-0 World Series Lead
Matt Ehalt

Oh, so now Dave Roberts doesn't want to talk about a 3-0 series lead.

The Dodgers manager jokingly interrupted a reporter Monday night who referenced his legacy-defining role in the Red Sox rallying from a [0-3] hole against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS . . .

"Don't talk about that," said Roberts, whose stolen base off Mariano Rivera in Game 4 changed that series 20 years ago."Wrong guy. Way too early."

Roberts can laugh and smile since his team clearly looks like the better team and has a chance to complete a sweep Tuesday night after grabbing a 4-2 win in Game 3 on Wednesday [it was Monday]. . . .

"I think offensively, to be quite honest, we left a lot of runs out there (Monday), still found a way to win a ball game and there's just got to be urgency. I just don't want to let these guys up for air."

For as bad as things look for the Yankees right now, things looked just as grim for the Red Sox in 2004 after they dropped Game 3, 19-8, at home to put their season on the brink.

But Roberts stole second base off Rivera in the ninth in Game 4 and scored on a game-tying single by Bill Mueller and the rest is history.

The Red Sox won Games 4 and 5 in extra innings, grabbed a 4-2 win in the infamous "Bloody Sock" Game 6 and then won Game 7 in The Bronx in a rout.

Those 2004 Red Sox are the only team among the 40 in baseball history to ever rally from a [0-3] hole in a best-of-seven series, per MLB.com, and one of just two to even reach a Game 7.

The Yankees will settle for even a Game 5 right now since the Dodgers appear to be out of their league so far . . . 

Yankees Crumbling In World Series Is Raising Uncomfortable Questions
Jon Heyman, Post

There's still a game to go, and that likely isn't good news for these Yankees. Through three games — all defeats — the Yankees are showing no indication they belong on the same field with the Dodgers, much less in a World Series with anyone. 

The questions that must be asked now: Did they win a league that was unusually weak? And did we all (myself included) overrate them? 

The Dodgers are killing them, and keep in mind LA is doing it with only three starting pitchers — one with an alleged lower-back concern that scared off these very Yankees, one who returned from shoulder woes and a third (Walker Buehler) who'd won only one game since returning midseason from his second Tommy John surgery — that is before shutting the Yankees down in the Dodgers' 4-2 Game 3 win. . . .

All indications are the Yankees are not the caliber of a World Series winner.  . . .

These Yankees were supposed to possess an immense rotation advantage . . . Neither Game 3 starter Clarke Schmidt nor Carlos Rodon made it into the fourth. 

Luis Severino months ago jokingly trash-talked the Yankees by text, telling them they had "two hitters," and he might be right. He just had the wrong two. It's Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton now. Aaron Judge continued his unreal October funk. . . . 

[W]e probably need to reevaluate this team. It won 94 games, but it feels like the Yankees did it in a much inferior league. . . .

Let's not forget, those Mets, allegedly a team in transition, beat the Yankees four for four. 

It's time to face the reality that this is a flawed Yankees team, a team whose lineup lacks true depth, a team that runs the bases poorly, a team that doesn't do any little things. In these three games, they didn't do big things, either. 

The Yankees took 15 years to get back to the World Series, and when they finally arrived, they look like they don't belong.

The Dodgers Are Exposing The Yankees In Every Way In One-Sided World Series
Joel Sherman, Post

The Yankees have a simple problem in this World Series. Everything they do well, the Dodgers do better — power, patience, pitching.

And then there is so much the Yankees do not do well, from running the bases to executing on defense, that Los Angeles also excels at.

Heck, the Dodgers even have the advantage in areas such as a way louder home crowd, deeper bench and better pregame rap performance — Ice Cube over Fat Joe. . . .

The Yankees waited 15 years to play in the World Series, and with each passing game, it's like they were never even here. A CSI crew will be needed to search for fingerprints and DNA at this point.

Game 1 was a classic that the Yankees squandered from their defense to Aaron Boone's decision-making. And since Freddie Freeman's grand slam decided that one in the 10th inning, the Yankees have not had a lead and have been lifeless on offense.

I'm not sure you can be blown out by a final score of 4-2 — yet that is how Game 2 and now Game 3 have played out. . . . [F]irst Carlos Rodon and then Clarke Schmidt pitched the Yankees behind while Dodgers starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto and then Walker Buehler on Monday night began a baton pass of pitching suffocation.

In both games, the Yankees offense slept for eight innings and roused in the ninth to cosmetically create a close final score that did not reflect the on-field reality . . .

"Extremely tough," said Alex Verdugo . . .

It is tough on steroids. Perhaps you can convince someone dumb or dumber that the Yankees have a chance because once in 40 tries when a team trailed 0-3 in an MLB postseason series, it did come back to win. That was the 2004 Red Sox, whose comeback against the Yankees was fueled by a Game 4 stolen base by current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. But David Ortiz is not walking off the FOX pregame set through those Yankees clubhouse doors. . . .

It already feels like a Whitey Ford ago that the preview of this series was an even matchup of coastal superpowers destined to go seven games.

Instead, Freeman has tied the Yankees 3-3 in homers and Los Angeles leads 5-3 overall in the one category the Yankees must win to conceal blemishes elsewhere. Another Yankee strength is plate discipline, but it is the Dodgers grinding Yankee pitchers, turning their first two walks into runs. . . .

Tommy Edman drew a walk to open the third off Schmidt, who would not survive the inning. He then created a run in a way generally foreign to the Yankees via legs and baseball IQ. He was running and took second on Ohtani's groundout and then got a great read instantly that Mookie Betts' looper to right was going to fall and scored easily. Gavin Lux stole a base in the sixth inning to position himself to score on Enrique Hernandez's signal for a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the Yanks are the worst baserunning team in the majors. . . .

Rodon and Schmidt combined to last six innings and allow seven runs in Games 2 and 3 compared to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler combining for 11.1 and one run. . . .

[Aaron Judge went] 0-for-3 with a walk to fall to 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts in this World Series, 6-for-43 (.140) this postseason and 42-for-214 (.196) in his postseason career. Judge has no hits in his last two World Series games and the Yanks are 17-34 (postseason included) when Judge does not have a hit in a game. . . .

"Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world," Boone said. . . .

That feels like an impossible mountain when you do nothing better than your opponent.




Giancarlo Stanton Giveth And Taketh Away — All In One Maddening Yankees Moment
Dan Martin, Post

The Yankees knew Giancarlo Stanton's lack of speed might hurt them in the postseason. 

On Monday, in a desperate attempt to get back in Game 3 of the World Series, it did, as Stanton was thrown out at the plate in the fourth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers that put the Yankees a defeat away from their season being over. 

Barely able to get anything going against Walker Buehler, Stanton's double with one out in the bottom of the fourth and the Yankees trailing by three runs, was one of their brief glimmers of hope versus the Dodgers. 

After Jazz Chisholm Jr. lined out to right, Anthony Volpe singled to left. 

With two outs, most runners would have easily scored on the play — but Stanton is no ordinary runner. 

Still, third base coach Luis Rojas sent Stanton and tested the arm of Teoscar Hernandez in left. 

Hernandez threw a one-hopper to the plate, just in time to nab Stanton, as Will Smith made the tag to end the inning and the only Yankees threat until Alex Verdugo homered with two outs in the ninth. . . .

The send by Rojas was understandable, since to that point, the increasingly feeble Yankees offense was mostly asleep. . . .

Lumbering Giancarlo Stanton Tagged Out At Home In Befuddling Yankees World Series Decision
Michael Blinn, Post

The Yankees were willing to try something — anything — but this might not have been the answer.

Giancarlo Stanton was thrown out at home plate on what will go down as a head-scratching call by third base coach Luis Rojas to end the fourth inning in Game 3 of the World Series.

On the wrong end of a 3-0 score, Stanton hit a one-out double . . .

Anthony Volpe sent a [two-out] single to left field — fielded by the Dodgers' Teoscar Hernandez — and Stanton, never known for his foot speed, was waved around by Rojas.

Herenandez's [sic] one-bounce throw from shallow left went right to catcher Will Smith in more than enough time to apply an inning-ending tag — and prevent the Bombers from getting on the board. . . .

[Stanton] had one of MLB's worst sprint speed's this season at 24.5 feet per second, ranking 549th out of 566 qualified players, per Statcast — only catcher Jose Trevino was worse on the Yankees roster at 24.4.

It's far from the first time Stanton's baserunning has been a Yankees problem, with Monday night probably not being the best time to put it to the test again.

NOTE: Hernandez's throw was most definitely NOT "in more than enough time". He needed to make a perfect throw and he made a perfect fucking throw. Watching the fourth or fifth replay, I was still amazed. Hernandez fired a rope that took one infield hop and reached Smith's glove at chest level. A split-second later, Stanton slid in and Smith barely needed to move his glove, if at all. Sure, Stanton runs like he's got two pianos on his back, but with two outs, it was the absolute correct decision to send him. Why hold him at third? So he can watch the next batter make the third out? Even if it might not have been a smart gamble, at the time, it was a necessary gamble. A Post reader and MFY fan made this comment: "Stanton is a ONE tool player who has been stealing money from the Yankees and their fans for years now. . . . he misses big chunks of games, can't play in the field, and runs the bases 1/2 speed during the season and 3/4 speed during the postseason."

Aaron Judge's Playoff Nightmare Deepens With Another Disappearing Act
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

Hints of progress arrived in the eighth . . .

Against Ryan Brasier, [Judge] swung through two borderline pitches and the crowd grew disgruntled, ready to boo the Yankees captain with one more whiff.

But Judge laid off three straight sliders that slid out of the zone, reaching on a walk that showed the process might be improving. 

But "process" is for April and May and June. In October, results matter, and Judge has not found nearly enough. . . .

Judge has stepped to the plate 13 times in the World Series. He has gone back to the dugout unhappy 11 times. Seven of those times have been strikeouts in a series in which he is hitting .083. . . .

The Yankees have scored seven runs in three games, and their offensive ineptitude begins with their strongest slugger. . . .

His manager has confidence that Judge can and will break out of this. Why? "He's Aaron Judge," Aaron Boone said after Judge had four more chances in Game 3 and wasted three of them. . . .

In just about every at-bat, there is a feeling that something might change and the reality that nothing has: During this postseason, the presumptive AL MVP is 6-for-43 (.140) across 12 games. He is 3-for-22 (.136) with runners on base and 0-for-10 with six strikeouts with runners in scoring position. 

Freddie Freeman Stuns Yankee Stadium — And Ties World Series Record With One Swing
Justin Terranova, Post

Freddie Freeman's torturing of the Yankees is now tying records.

Freeman's first-inning two-run homer gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in Game 3 of the World Series and marked the fifth straight Fall Classic game the first baseman has homered in.

Freeman, 35, tied the mark held by the Astros' George Springer . . .

Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt opened the game by walking Shohei Ohtani and after Mookie Betts flew out to left, Freeman launched over the right field fence to quiet a raucous Yankee Stadium crowd.

Freeman hit the walkoff grand slam in Game 1 against Nestor Cortes and then hit a solo shot off Carlos Rodon in Game 2 to push the Dodgers' lead to 4-1.

Did anyone but the most delusional Yankee fans think Schmidt was going to do anything other than what he did (2.2-2-3-4-3, 68)? Clarke is probably a nice guy (or not, since most ball players are right-wingers), but if you are putting all your chips on a "Clark Schmidt" to save your season, your season is already kaput.

Clarke Schmidt Flops When The Yankees Needed Him The Most
Dan Martin, Post

Before Clarke Schmidt faced the Dodgers on Monday, the last Yankee pitcher to take the mound with his team facing a 2-0 series deficit in the World Series was David Cone in 1996. . . .

Cone allowed just one run over six innings on that October night against Atlanta after the Yankees had taken an early lead. . . .

Schmidt had a much different result . . . that sent the Yankees to the brink of their season ending. 

Schmidt walked Shohei Ohtani on four pitches to start the game and then gave up a two-run homer to Freddie Freeman with one out.

He was unable to get out of the third inning against Los Angeles, done in also by four walks in just 2.2 innings before he was pulled with the bases loaded. . . .

"I didn't do my job tonight," Schmidt said. . . .

Schmidt [issued] a leadoff walk to No. 9 hitter Tommy Edman in the third. Ohtani grounded out to send Edman to second and Betts flared a single to right to score Edman and make it 3-0. 

A walk to Freeman followed and Schmidt appeared ready to survive the inning when he got Teoscar Hernandez to pop to short, but a walk to Max Muncy ended his night with the Yankee bullpen needing to fill the remaining 6.1 innings and in dire need of a win.

John Sterling Got 'Fooled' With Brutal World Series Home Run Call
Erich Richter

From "All Rise" to Go Sit.

Yankees longtime radio voice John Sterling got just a bit ahead of himself when scuffling Yankees star Aaron Judge sent a hanging fourth-inning curveball to left field.

"And the breaking ball, there it goes, deep left-center field," Sterling, 86, said with his voice punctuated, ready to deliver his patented home run call.

"And, Teoscar is there to make the catch. Oh, did I get fooled on that. With that swing and the ball majestically going to left field, Suzyn, I actually thought it was going to be out. And it wasn't close." . . .

Waldman checked to see if perhaps the wind was a factor. "I'm looking to see if the flags pulled that one in. Nope. Flags blowing in a little bit," Waldman said. . . .

We've seen the Yankees' legendary radio broadcaster get fooled many times in recent years.

In October 2021, Giancarlo Stanton hit a rocket off the Green Monster in Boston which Sterling called a "Stantonian home run," before realizing that the ball was now in the infield. Looking for answers Sterling asked, "What did I do wrong?"

In 2022, Sterling made multiple errors, including in May when he thought then-Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman hit a home run when Stanton actually made a leaping catch on the ball, robbing Chapman of an extra-base hit.

Stanton also hit what looked to be a home run that April. This time, Sterling outright called it a home run before Toronto's left fielder Raimel Tapia caught it on the warning track in Yankee Stadium.

Sterling previously retired due to health concerns during the 2024 season but has since returned for the postseason. It is entirely possible that the next Yankee loss will be his final in a radio booth.

What's next?

YED.

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October 28, 2024

Schadenfreude 356 (A Continuing Series)


In 2004, the Post put Babe Ruth's picture on the front page to inspire the home team against the Red Sox ("Put Me In").

Twenty years later, the Daily News opts for Mickey Mantle's ass. Okay. Whatever you think will work . . .

The MFY will send some no-name rag-arm named Clarke Schmidt to the mound this evening.

He looks ready.


The Theories Behind Aaron Judge Being 'Lost' At Plate As Yankees Face World Series Must-Win
Jon Heyman

Yankees superstar Aaron Judge surely has heard it all by now. The game's greatest hitter by a mile is barely hitting the ball at all.

Is it the great October pitchers? Is it Judge doing something different, or wrong?

Is it the pitches or the pressure? The mechanics or the approach?

If I'm hearing about it, I can only imagine what he's dealing with. The theories are almost endless . . .

[Judge] entered Game 3 of the World Series hitting .150 in October with nearly half his at-bats resulting in strikeouts (19 of 40).

It's both his mechanics and his approach, according to one NL scout.

"The reason Judge is so streaky is in his mechanics and his approach: 1) he swings uphill, stuck back with his lower half … zero adjustability," the scout said. "Limited barrel accuracy with this swing.. . . When's the last time you saw Judge off balance and get a hit? He can't. His mechanics don't allow for adjustability and his approach is to swing as hard as he can no matter the pitch. There is just no battle right now."

That's one of the more insider explanations, but it is also quite insightful. There are many more thoughts.

"He's lost," says one longtime baseball expert. "He can't see anything down in the zone with spin." . . .

The pressure of living up to fabulous regular seasons can get strong for some, one NL scout said. "First time on this stage for some great players at times can get a little fast even for them." . . .

Others say it's the opposition, and in this case the Dodgers, known as an analytics team, had at least five advance scouts on the championship series. . . . 

"Such a dangerous hitter when he can extend his arms," the AL scout said, "but his primary weakness has been there all year — feels to me that playoff teams are just typically better at preparing and executing for each team's primary weakness."

Aaron Judge 'A Brick Wall' To Narratives Around His Struggles As World Series Shifts To Bronx
Greg Joyce

[W]ith the Yankees . . . facing a 2-0 deficit in the World Series, with Judge's ill-timed slump at the heart of their struggles, an angsty Yankee Stadium could await in Game 3.

"We got the best fans in baseball, so they're definitely going to be loud, they're going to be rowdy, they're going to have our back all game," Judge said . . .

One way to ensure that will actually be the case throughout Monday night would be for Judge to deliver an early jolt after going a brutal 6-for-40 with 19 strikeouts through his first 11 games this October. . . .

But what happens if [he] strikes out in his first at-bat or two? Or he just comes up empty again with runners on base, especially if the Dodgers take an early lead?

It was only two years ago that Judge, 10 days removed from hitting his record-breaking 62nd home run, was booed in Game 2 of the ALDS amid a quiet start to his playoffs. . . .

Judge's teammates insist he is unaffected by the mounting noise, good or bad.

"The narrative is whatever is made of it, but he's a brick wall," said Anthony Rizzo . . . "He knows how to handle all this stuff." . . .

Judge has struck out three times in each of the first two games of the World Series, giving him 11 games with at least 3 strikeouts in his postseason career, the most in MLB history, per MLB Network. . . .

[T]he numbers are troubling. So far this postseason, Judge is just 3-for-20 with runners on base and 0-for-10 with six strikeouts with runners in scoring position.

Those struggles have been magnified in the first inning . . . With Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto regularly reaching base ahead of him in the opening frame this month, he has [gone] 0-for-10 with six strikeouts and a hit-by-pitch in 11 first innings, nine of which have come with runners on base. [During the season, Judge hit .359 in the first inning with a 1.307 OPS.] . . .

Judge has hurt himself by expanding the zone. His chase rate during a dominant regular season was a career-low 17.7 percent. In 11 playoff games this month, it is 29.7 percent.

Pitchers have attacked Judge with off-speed and breaking pitches, against which he is just 1-for-20 with 14 strikeouts this postseason. Judge has swung at 23 off-speed and breaking pitches out of the zone and whiffed at 21 of them.

 

Yankees Lineup Being Held Back By Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells' Brutal Slumps
Dan Martin

Aaron Judge isn't the only one weighing down the Yankee lineup lately. . . .

[Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells] are off to horrendous starts . . . against the Dodgers . . .

The two players [batted in Game 2] with the bases loaded and the Yankees trailing by two runs in the top of the ninth . . . It didn't go well. 

Volpe whiffed on a 2-2 sweeper from right-hander Blake Treinen that ended up far out of the strike zone for the second out of the inning. . . .

Trevino was used as a pinch hitter versus the lefty [Alex Vesia], even though the veteran catcher has just one hit in the postseason. He lined out to center on the first pitch he saw to end the game. . . .

[Volpe] is hitless in eight at-bats against the Dodgers with four strikeouts. The only time Volpe has reached base in his past 11 plate appearances, in fact, was an intentional walk . . .

Wells' slump goes back to his final 14 games of the regular season, when the catcher went 3-for-45 with a dozen strikeouts. . . .

Overall this postseason, Volpe has a slugging percentage of .270, with Wells coming in at .171. 

Yankees Turn Back To Jose Trevino In World Series Lineup Switch
Greg Joyce

The Yankees are trying to snap out of their 2-0 World Series deficit by making a change at catcher.

Jose Trevino will start Game 3 behind the plate for the scuffling Austin Wells.

It will only be Trevino's second start of the postseason, the first one coming in the ALCS when the Guardians started lefty Matthew Boyd.

Trevino has a weaker arm than Wells, potentially opening the door for the Dodgers to take advantage on the basepaths, but the left-handed hitting rookie had been close to a zero at the plate through 11 playoff games, batting 4-for-41 (.098) with a .330 OPS. . . .

Trevino . . . pinch-hit for Wells in the ninth inning Saturday against Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia, flying out to center field to end the game with the bases loaded and the Yankees trailing, 4-2.

Carlos Rodon Suddenly Has Injury Issue That Could Impact Yankees' World Series Plans
Jon Heyman

Carlos Rodon was dealing with a finger blister, which affected his breaking pitches in Game 2, The Post confirmed.

Likely due to the blister issue, he became too reliant on his fastball, which eventually got hammered.

You have to wonder whether this could affect his Game 6 assignment, assuming Game 6 is necessary. . . .

This World Series features the two main players in Boston's long-regretted Mookie Betts trade: Betts, of course, who remains one of the five best players in the world, and Alex Verdugo, who entered Game 3 in a 1-for-17 slide.

Dodgers people never saw Verdugo as having star potential. They didn't see him as having enough power or the ability to play center field.

Two Old Favorites Return To Stade Fasciste* . . . It's Mystique and Aura!

Bronx Ready To Roar As World Series Finally Returns To Yankee Stadium
Mike Vaccaro (my emphasis)

It won't take long for everyone to reacclimate. Fifteen years may seem like an eternity when discussing Yankees appearances in the World Series, but when you have muscle memory this strong, it all comes back pretty quickly. The sights. The sounds — especially the sounds. The energy. 

And, yes, the magic. 

The Mets may have co-opted October's magic this time around, but they never put a down payment on it. Yankee Stadium has been the home office for October magic — for World Series magic — since a time when silent movies were still the most popular form of entertainment. . . .

The great majority of Yankees fans understand what a joy it is to have followed such a franchise, and while brimming with confidence is generally their default position, they also can recognize a seminal moment when it presents itself, as it has across so many World Series across so many Octobers across so many decades. That is Game 3. That is Monday night. 

The mouth-breathers who gave the rest of Yankee Fandom a bad name Saturday, caught on film cheering Shohei Ohtani's injury at Billy's, and offering up a few vulgar single-finger salutes, they don't represent the bulk of Yankees fans. And those fans — the good ones, the loyal ones — surely were happy to hear Dave Roberts' words late Sunday afternoon, saying that Ohtani is likely to be good to go Monday night. . . .

Real Yankees fans, the ones who've been with them for parades and for predicaments, never shy away from facing teams at their best. They welcome it, in fact. . . .

The Yankees lost Game 1 from ahead and Game 2 from behind, but what they could really use is a crooked number, early as possible, especially on Monday. Give themselves a little room to breathe. Give the masses a little material to work with. The Dodgers are relentless, frustratingly so, but they're also human. 

An early hole, and an earsplitting and sustained roar, would pave the clearest pathway toward shaving the Dodgers lead to 2-1 in this series. Let the Dodgers hear the rancor for a few hours, and then let them stew on it overnight. That's the immediate mission here. . . .

And they've come to the right place. . . . The Bronx . . . where the faithful have been waiting, and where they're ready. The countdown has started for the roll call, Fall Classic edition. Clear your throats. We're nearly there.

M-Vac is giving cheering lessons to the fans! Well, not all of them – he's addressing the "great majority" (the "bulk") – the "good", "loyal", "real", "faithful" and confident fans! (There's maybe only 5 or 6 of those, and I'm being generous.) He also acts as if this third YS is still the original YS – which was destroyed roughly five decades ago. Just blindly follow orders from the light bulbs in the scoreboard and GET LOUD – that (apparently) will cause runs for the home team and instill fear and worry in the opposition (after they "stew on it" during a long sleepless night).

Vaccaro can be as snarky and withering as any other Post sportswriter, so I look forward to the next few days, once he ditches the naive-cheerleader tone and returns to dispensing the schadenfreude by shitting on the MFY.

*: Type "Stade Fasciste" into Google and the Joy of Sox's glossary is the top listing (in English). Wooo.

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October 27, 2024

Schadenfreude 355 (A Continuing Series) 

Game 2
Yankees - 001 000 001 - 2  4  0
Dodgers - 013 000 00x - 4  8  0


Yankees May Need To Go Spiritual To Save Aaron Judge This World Series
Mike Vaccaro, Post

This CAN'T be the way this season is going to play out. . . . No. This can't be the way it's going to go the rest of the way, however long that is.

Surely, Aaron Judge will snap out of it.

Surely, he will return to form, and revert to being the most fearsome hitter in the game.

Because if he doesn't … . . .

"Our fans will have our back," Judge said. "They always do."

What the fans will need . . . is for Judge to play like Aaron Judge again, and as soon as possible. . . . [If not,] then they'll be lucky to last another 15 minutes. . . .

Judge came into Saturday night's Game 2 of the World Series with a postseason slash line of .167/.304/.361. He'd struck out 16 times in 36 at-bats. And things got even worse on Saturday: 0-for-4, three more strikeouts . . . 

If he can't turn this around, and quick, we might look at a second-straight season dying in Hollywood. That can't be the way the season is going to turn out, either. Right? . . .

The Most Surprising Concern About Aaron Judge's Deflating Yankees Slump

Greg Joyce, Post

Yankee Stadium will host its first World Series game in 15 years on Monday, but will it actually feel like a party?

The Yankees headed home in a [0-2] series deficit after a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers in Game 2 on Saturday night in which their offense was lifeless until the ninth inning, when their rally was too little, too late.

The Game 2 loss only made falling in Game 1 more regrettable. On Friday, they had two crucial defensive miscues that cost them and a few strategic decisions that were left for second-guessing. On Saturday, they straight up got beat. . . .

— The Yankees are not going to do anything if they don't get Aaron Judge back looking like Aaron Judge. [He] went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Saturday and is now 1-for-9 in the World Series and 6-for-40 with 19 strikeouts this October. . . .

Judge has fallen back into a slump at the worst time over these first 11 playoff games — reminiscent of a 6-for-43 with 20 strikeouts stretch he had in 11 games from April 15 to April 26, only these at-bats come with a heck of a lot more weight.

Judge was booed at home during the 2022 ALDS . . . A few empty at-bats on Monday night and history could repeat itself. . . .

In 11 first innings in these playoffs, Judge is 0-for-10 with six strikeouts and a hit by pitch. He has come to the plate with runners in scoring position seven times in 11 first innings and has not been able to do anything with it. The more it happens, the more deflating it threatens to be. . . .

— So much for the perceived rotation advantage the Yankees held coming into the series.

Some of it was just by nature of having four starters compared to the Dodgers' three, but that doesn't mean a whole lot when Carlos Rodon is only lasting 3.1 innings in Game 2 on a night when he was completely outdone by Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6.1 innings of one-hit, one-run ball). . . .

Rodon got hurt with his fastball on Saturday, as it was responsible for all three of the home runs he gave up . . . Rodon gave up four straight hits in the third inning and all of them came off his fastball.

— Tim Hill's performance in Game 2 won't quiet any of the second-guessing from Game 1. The lefty reliever . . . entered Saturday's game in the fifth inning and immediately got Freeman to pop out. That was the first of four straight batters Hill retired on 14 pitches. . . . [It] makes you think "What if?" again. . . .

Teams that have gone up 2-0 in the World Series have gone on to win it 80.4 percent of the time (45 out of 57). 


 


Yankees Remain Defiant, Even As The Dodgers Expose All Their Flaws
Joel Sherman, Post

There are no medals for mettle. Certainly not in the $300 million payroll megacoastal superpower division. . . .

[T]he Dodgers came back not once, but twice late to win Game 1 — or what the Yankees couldn't do in Game 2. And whatever surge the Yankees offered in the ninth inning Saturday did not erase that, for the first eight innings, the Dodgers were the far superior team en route to a 4-2 win and a two-games-to-none lead. . . .

What was expected to be the Yankees' main advantage in the rotation, wasn't. Jack Flaherty pitched Cole to a draw in the opener and Yoshinobu Yamamoto badly outpitched Carlos Rodon in Game 2.

The ability to go homer for homer and star for star and long lineup for long lineup with the Dodgers? Not quite. . . .

Central to that silence is that Aaron Judge continued to be missing in October, going 0-for-4 with three more strikeouts. . . . These Yankees are not built technically sound or well-rounded. They win with the long ball and that means having Judge at his fullest power — but so far the Dodgers have the edge there too . . .

The only way the Yankees can win this series is to get it back to Los Angeles, which means the 27 innings in The Bronx must be a lot better than what the Yankees offered over two days at Dodger Stadium.

[27?!?! MFY will be lucky if there's more than 18 innings in the Bronx.]

Carlos Rodon Sucked Life Out Of Yankees With Latest Collapse
Zach Braziller, Post

The bad Carlos Rodon showed up at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night.

With the Yankees in need of a big outing, Rodon instead imploded . . .

He yielded three home runs and failed to get through the fourth inning . . . 

"This start is hard, and it's unfortunate because it is Game 2 of the World Series," Rodon said. . . .

The Yankees gave Rodon a six-year, $162 million contract prior to last season . . . 

Rodon wasn't up to the task against the powerful Dodgers.

He registered just six swings-and-misses on his 63 pitches.

His three strikeouts were his fewest since June 21 against [Atlanta], 19 starts ago, and his 3.1 innings of work equaled his shortest outing of the regular season.

It was the worst start of Rodon's uneven postseason, in which he has allowed five homers and given up 11 earned runs in 17.2 innings, good for a dismal 5.60 ERA.

Of his four outings, this was the shortest, and it came at a bad time, with the Yankees in need of length after they went deep into their bullpen in Game 1.

Tim Hill's Game 2 Success Only Makes Aaron Boone's Nestor Cortes Decision Look Worse
Dan Martin, Post

A day late and a dollar short.

The Yankees brought in lefty Tim Hill in the bottom of the fifth inning on Saturday after going with Nestor Cortes in the 10th inning of Friday's Game 1 of the World Series that ended with Freddie Freeman's historic grand slam.

The results in Saturday's 4-2 Game 2 loss only made Friday's decision look worse, as the side-arming lefty Hill came in and got Game 1 hero Freeman to pop to short and then got Tommy Edman — who had homered and doubled earlier in Game 2 — looking to end the fifth with the Yankees trailing by three runs.

Hill retired all four batters he faced . . . It was another example of the journeyman Hill . . . getting batters out — which is something Cortes hadn't done in 37 days before he came into Game 1 . . .

As for Cortes, the lefty said he'd be ready to pitch again whenever called upon . . . Still, pitching coach Matt Blake acknowledged he was worried about Cortes' mindset — at least to a degree — after he allowed one of the biggest gut-punch home runs in franchise history.


Carlos Rodón Crumbles, Aaron Judge Keeps Struggling As Dodgers Ice Yankees For 2-0 World Series Lead
Gary Phillips, Daily News

Shortly before Game 2 of the World Series began, Ice Cube emerged from an opening in the center field wall at Dodger Stadium.Dressed in a shiny blue Dodgers jacket, a matching hat and Nikes, the rapper made his way from the warning track to the mound and then home plate. Each step came with a bar, as the Los Angeles native performed "Bow Down" and "It Was A Good Day" in an effort to hype up his hometown crowd. . . .

"Bow down to a team that's greater than you," O'Shea Jackson Sr. demanded while pointing toward the Yankees' dugout. He then asked a roaring Chavez Ravine, "Are we going to win Game 2 or what?" before transitioning to his second song.

The answer turned out to be yes, as the Dodgers took Game 2, 4-2, on Saturday. After getting walked off in Game 1, the Yankees now face a 2-0 series deficit with the Fall Classic heading back to New York. . . .

With Yankee Stadium set to host its first World Series game since 2009 on Monday, the odds are not in the Bombers' favor. . . .

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