Yankees Face Dodgers’ Brooms in Game 4 Tonight
The New York Yankees backs are to the proverbial wall tonight when they face the LA Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series. LA leads the series 3-0 after dominating the Yankees in Game 3 by the score of 4-2.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who changed the complexion of this series when he launched a grand slam into the right field bleachers at Dodgers Stadium in Game 1 on Friday night, struck again. This time the slugger took a Clark Schmidt fastball and lined it off the facade of the second deck for a two-run homer to give LA an early 2-0 lead.
They would never look back, as their air came out of the Yankee’s sails once Freeman made his turn around first base.
By the seventh inning of Game 3, one could hear a pin drop at Yankee Stadium. By the eighth inning, fans were filing for the exits. The Yankees had nothing, and everyone knew it.
It didn’t help matters that the Yankees were plagued by mistakes on Monday night, most notably the base-running blunder by Giancarlo Stanton who was thrown out at home while trying to slide under the tag in the fourth inning.
Yankees fans react to Stanton being thrown out at home 😬 pic.twitter.com/ys4AOQQUdY Yankees fans react to Stanton being thrown out at home 😬 pic.twitter.com/ys4AOQQUdY
?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2024Yankees fans react to Stanton being thrown out at home 😬 pic.twitter.com/ys4AOQQUdY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX)Yankees fans react to Stanton being thrown out at home 😬 pic.twitter.com/ys4AOQQUdY
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 29, 2024
And let us not forget that Aaron Judge remains M.I.A. in this World Series. Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. He is hitting only .140 in this postseason. For some reason, the bright lights of the postseason just haven’t worked for the American League’s MVP. He is a lifetime .196 hitter in the playoffs.
No plate appearance better exemplifies how much Judge is pressing right now than when he took a home run cut on an off-speed pitch by Walker Buehler and wound up popping it up to shallow left.
Sure the Yankees eventually scored in the ninth inning on Alex Verdugo’s two-run blast, but it wasn’t enough. The game was over long before this homer happened. Perhaps even the World Series too boot.
The Dodgers have proven to be a step above the Yankees in all facets of the game thus far in this series, and they can serve the Yanks the ultimate indignity with a win, and sweep of this World Series on a night where L.A. is relying on its bullpen.
YANKEES vs. HISTORY
Can the Bombers survive? Sure. But they need to win this game tonight. That is simple enough, considering the Dodgers are going with all relievers in this contest, while the Yankees counter with Luis Gil for Game 4.
A win tonight and the Yankees can trout out Gerrit Cole for Game 5. That means the Yankees have to like their chances to at least send this series back to California, while not giving the Dodgers the satisfaction of celebrating in the Bronx.
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit in the World Series to win it.
Only one team has come back from 0-3 down to win a playoff series, and that was of course the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who stunned the Yankees in the ’04 ALCS.
Ironically, the man who was the catalyst of that Red Sox comeback is sitting in the Dodgers dugout: manager Dave Roberts.
