Yanks Down 2-0

Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.

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By Sal Maiorana

October 27, 2024

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For Sal's complete analysis on the New York Yankees, you can subscribe to Sal Maiorana's free Pinstripe People Newsletter at https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe.

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The Yankees are in trouble in this World Series, now down two games to none as the action shifts to Yankee Stadium, and no matter how much baloney Aaron Boone feeds reporters, the chances of this team rallying to win four games is pretty slim

Oct. 26: Dodgers 4, Yankees 2

On their way to opening a commanding two games to none lead in the World Series, the Dodgers have started two pitchers who the Yankees tried to acquire, and failed in both cases.

In Game 1 Friday, Jack Flaherty, dominated the Yankees for five innings before he threw one bad pitch to Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth and it ended up in the left-field bleachers, sort of ruining an otherwise fine outing. This is the same Flaherty who the Yankees were about the acquire at the trade deadline from the Tigers before their crack medical staff advised Brian Cashman against it because of a lingering shoulder injury. Yeah, he looked like he was really laboring, huh? He’s been mostly great since he joined Los Angeles, except for one terrible performance in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets.

And then Saturday, Game 2 starter Yoshinubu Yamamoto toyed with the Yankees, giving up just one hit in 6.1 innings, a solo homer to Juan Soto. The same Yamamoto who took the Yankees for a joy ride in the offseason as he accepted all of their hospitality when they tried to recruit him out of Japan and teased them right to the end before he laughed all the way to the bank and took the Dodgers offer of $325 million which was $25 million more than what Hal Steinbrenner was willing to pay. Yamamoto embarrassed the Yankees in a start in the Bronx back in June, seven innings of two-hit, shutout ball, and he nearly matched that under the bright lights of the biggest stage.

The performances of Flaherty and Yamamoto, who not only mummified the Yankees’ bats but also helped ease the Dodgers’ bullpen burden, are two of the main reasons why the Dodgers are two games away from flushing the Yankees’ season down the toilet.

Game 2 was such a weak, pathetic effort by the Yankees. It started with Carlos Rodon turtling in the biggest start of his career. Now, to be fair, did anyone really have much faith that Rodon was going to lead the Yankees out of the wilderness after that horrific meltdown loss in Game 1? Of course you didn’t, and sure enough, Rodon allowed three home runs in 3.1 innings, putting the Yankees into a 4-1 deficit they never had a chance to get out of. Having wasted Gerrit Cole’s tremendous ace-like performance Friday night, the Yankees needed Rodon to be a stopper and the $162 million man failed miserably.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto proved the point that I’ve been chirping about all season, how this Yankees offense is vastly overrated no matter what their inflated numbers might say. There are so many dead spots, it’s like seeking cell phone coverage in the Himalayas. Soto went 2-for-4 with a homer while the rest of these stiffs went 2-for-27, and those two hits by Stanton and Jazz Chisholm didn’t come until the ninth inning.

Another of Aaron Boone’s favorite mantras, after a loss, is that his team will be ready to roll come the next day. He said it after Game 1, how his team has been doing this all season, suffering gut punch losses and then bouncing back. Well, that didn’t happen in Game 2.

“They’re gonna enjoy a nice flight to New York tonight, and rightfully so, they’re up two-oh,” Anthony Rizzo said. “The biggest thing is, we win that game Monday, the pressure goes to the other side and we’ll make this a series. The Dodgers have played really well and you can’t take anything away from them. But the look in everyone’s eyes in here makes me feel this is far from over.”

“It’s a tough start, but it ain’t over yet,’’ Soto said of the 2-0 hole.

I don’t know fellas, it kind of feels like it is.

Here are my observations:

➤ It is going to be over for the Yankees if Aaron Judge doesn’t get his head on right, though I think it’s too late for that. Judge has been abysmal in the postseason, helplessly lost at the plate, and while the Yankees could survive against the likes of the Royals and Guardians getting nothing out of their captain and the man who will likely be a unanimous choice for AL MVP, the Dodgers are a different beast.

➤ Through two games, Judge has struck out six times and overall he is now 6-for-40 with 19 strikeouts in this postseason. This on top of previous Octobers when he’s been a ghost. For his career, in 55 playoff games, he’s now batting .199 with an OPS of .740, and he has struck in 85 of his 248 plate appearances. “Guys are going to step up. Guys are going to do what they need to do,” Judge said. “I got to step up as well. Especially what Gleyber and Juan are doing at the top of the lineup, I got to back them up.”

➤ Judge struck out after Torres walked in the first; he popped out to right to end the third after Soto homered to defuse any possible momentum; he struck out against Yamamoto again in the sixth; and in the ninth, after Soto led off with a single against Blake Treinen, and took second on a wild pitch, Judge whiffed for a third time. Just brutal, and there is no doubt he is a head case, but he also looks completely shot after playing a career 158 regular-season games. His timing is way off, his bat looks slow and his swing looks long. I can’t imagine all of that is getting fixed at this point. Judge is trying to establish his Yankees legacy, and the only way to truly do it - with the exception of Don Mattingly - is via postseason heroism. Instead, he’s becoming Dave Winfield, the man George Steinbrenner dubbed Mr. May after he went 1-for-22 in the Yankees’ 1981 World Series loss to the Dodgers. Who is Judge? Take your pick: Mr. May, June, July, August, or September.

➤ Rodon was terrible. He lasted just 63 pitches during which he gave up all four LA runs on six hits, three of them homers by Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez. This was not a surprise for two reasons: Rodon can’t be trusted, but also, the Dodgers killed left-handed pitching all season. “This start is hard, and it’s unfortunate because it is Game 2 of the World Series,” Rodon said. “I feel like I’ve been OK (in the playoffs). I’ve tried to keep the games close. Tonight, it was tough putting the boys down 4-1. I wish I would’ve been better with some off-speed, and been a little bit more competitive and gone deeper in the game.”

➤ Edman led off the second with his homer to left, and then came the disastrous, game-deciding third. Rodon retired the first two men, exactly what he needed to do after Soto had given the Yankees some life with his tying homer in the top half of the inning. He needed that shutdown inning and instead, in the span of 16 pitches, Mookie Betts singled, Hernandez homered to right, Freeman homered to right for a 4-1 lead, and Edman doubled and stole third before Rodon finally ended it by retiring Kike Hernandez. When he gave up a double to slumping Will Smith in the fourth, Boone yanked him after he’d recorded just 10 outs. This postseason, he has allowed five homers, given up 11 earned runs in 17 ²/₃ innings for a dismal 5.60 ERA.

➤ Once he was gone, the Dodgers never scored again. Jake Cousins got three outs, Tim Hill retired all four men he faced, Clay Holmes retired four of five with just a walk, and Mark Leiter Jr. worked a scoreless eighth. How about Hill? The man who should have pitched the 10th inning Friday instead of Nestor Cortes, doing what he has done since he came to the Yankees. He just buzzed through guys, and all that did was shine the light on the stupidity of Boone choosing Cortes over Hill in Game 1.

➤ Despite all that great work from the bullpen, there was no coming back from that 4-1 Rodon-induced deficit for the weak-hitting Yankees. After the Soto homer, Yamamoto retired the last 11 men he faced before Dave Roberts took him out in the seventh in favor of lefty Anthony Banda. The only batter who reached against him in the seventh was Anthony Volpe because he was hit by a pitch.

➤ In the eighth, Michael Kopech took over he needed just 14 pitches to mow down Austin Wells, Alex Verdugo and Torres. Wells is now 4-for-41 this postseason and since Sept. 10 he’s 8-for-89. He has been such a massive disappointment considering that throughout his journey up the minor league chain he was billed as a terrific hitting catcher.

➤ In the ninth, with Treinen on the mound, the Yankees finally got to work and at least made the end interesting. With Soto on second and Judge out of the way, Stanton hit a laser that clipped third base and popped into left field for a single to score Soto. Then Chisholm singled and Rizzo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Volpe came up for the biggest at bat of his career and predictably struck out, swinging at strike three that was so far off the plate he needed binoculars. Roberts then brought in lefty Alex Vesia to face Wells, though I’m not sure why he even thought he needed a platoon advantage there. Boone countered by pinch-hitting Jose Trevino. Imagine this is the move you have to make, Trevino for Wells. But hey, all Trevino needed was a single and the game is probably tied, and once in a while, Trevino can hit singles. Well, not Saturday. He swung at Vesia’s first pitch and hit a lazy fly to center. Ballgame over, Yankees lose.

➤ Something to watch moving forward is the status of Shohei Ohtani who suffered a shoulder injury thanks to an awkward slide as he was trying to steal second in the eighth. He was in pain when he left the field and while Roberts tried to paint a rosy picture, we’ll see. Obviously, if he is going to miss time, that could impact the series. “We’re going to get some tests at some point tonight, tomorrow, and then we’ll know more in the next couple days,” Roberts said. “But the strength was great. The range of motion, good. So we’re encouraged. But obviously I can’t speculate because we don’t have the scans yet. Once we get the scans, we’ll know more.”