By admin 
NEW YORK – OK, Dodger fan, calm down. There’s no need to hyperventilate or reach for anything to calm your nerves.
Yet.
Did the momentum of the 120th World Series start to shift Tuesday night? It’s too early to tell, but the New York Yankees’ bottom batting order was showing signs of life, and so was Aaron Judge. That could change the series if it continues.
New York’s 11-4 victory in Game 4 has postponed the end of the baseball season at least one more night. The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole will try to hold on to that life in Game 5 on Wednesday night, and Jack Flaherty will try to stamp it out and bring a championship to LA
In the meantime, we’ve learned this: When the going gets tough, Yankee fans get weird.
Or at least the two fans who sat in the front row along the right foul line and in the second half of the front row decided that baseball really should be a fan participation sport. Leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres sent a snaking pop-up down the right field line, and when Mookie Betts grabbed the pop-up, those two fans fought him for it, one (in a No. 99 Yankees road jersey) trying to yank the ball out. off his glove and finally succeeded, and the other (in a Mariano Rivera home jersey) grabbed Betts’ wrist.
Yes, Torres was called for fan interference. And yes, those fans were escorted out of the stadium. If there is any justice, they will (a) not be allowed in again for a long, long time, and (b) at some point realize the utter stupidity of paying for what those front row seats went for and that money essentially throwing it away with such a foolish act.
“Fan got in the way, and the refs were right,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward, but I suspect even he didn’t realize how much the fans, plural, were interfering with Betts. The national TV audience had a better view.
That and Freddie Freeman’s fourth home run of the series, a two-run shot in the first inning, were the highlights of the night for the Dodgers. Freeman gave LA a quick 2-0 lead by putting another player in the right field spots, and he not only has a four-game homer streak in this series, but six games in total, including 2021 with Atlanta.
It turns out they’ll need more from Freddie, as tonight’s attempt at a bullpen game went awry when Daniel Hudson replaced rookie Ben Casparius in the third inning after Casparius was shaky (three walks and a double in two innings). but left with a 2-1 lead. Hudson grounded a batter, gave up a single, walked another batter and gave up Andrew Volpe’s first postseason home run, a shot over the left field fence on the first pitch for a 5-2 Yankees lead.
“He had (Giancarlo) Stanton 1-2 and just couldn’t put him away,” Roberts said. “Then (he) gets a pop-up (against Anthony Rizzo), and he’s one hit away from leaving it and leaving a slider armside to Volpe. That was the difference in that inning.”
Perhaps there was another factor. Hudson threw in the seventh inning of Game 3 on Monday night and struck out Volpe, but the Yankees shortstop said he picked up some information from that at-bat.
“I was looking at fastball” instead of slider, Volpe said, “but I saw it the night before and had a pretty good idea where I wanted the pitches to start.”
That goes back to the idea that hitters become more familiar with relief pitchers over a series. It’s something to pay attention to.
And what did we say about how unimpressive the bottom half of the Yankee order was? Fuhged about it, as they say here. Volpe had two hits, walked and scored three runs in addition to his four RBIs. Catcher Austin Wells, at No. 8, doubled, homered and walked to score two runs. Alex Verdugo had a single and two RBIs on fielder’s choice grounders, the second when he hit one right off Gavin Lux with the infield in and Volpe still beat the throw.
As for the other collapsing Yankee? Be very afraid. Judge was 1 for 16 for the series with seven strikeouts when he stepped to the plate in the eighth inning against Brent Honeywell Jr., opting for a 1-and-1 slider that didn’t slide enough for a sharp single to left. If that mistake turns out to be what keeps him going for the rest of this series, the Dodgers could indeed be in trouble.
That being said, the Yankees are now 8 for 32 with runners in scoring position, with four hits coming Tuesday night.
Game 4 demonstrated the risk of trying to put together a bullpen game. If it doesn’t work, things can get ugly. Hudson relinquished the lead. Landon Knack went four innings, but gave up Wells’ home run in the sixth to make it 6-4 after the Dodgers pulled within one run. Things then got out of hand with Torres’ three-run homer in the eighth against Honeywell.
Although the game was close until the bottom of the eighth inning, this seemed to be one of those games where Roberts felt it was important to marshal his resources. Hudson was the only leverage player he used, and using Knack for four innings and Honeywell in the eighth ensured everyone else would be fresh for Game 5.
“It’s a challenge,” Roberts said. “I think you have to make sure you can score some points (before going all in with the main guys). Sure, any guy we use tonight wouldn’t be able to pitch tomorrow. Landon actually threw the ball really well. … Four innings is the most he’s thrown in quite some time. And as we enter that last half, it just doesn’t make sense to use any of your influential guys.
“… Where we are right now (Wednesday), knowing there is a bad day (Thursday), we are in a great spot with leverage relievers,” Roberts added.
So this is one game and nothing more. The Dodgers are still playing with house money, with three chances to win one game and, if necessary, two of those three in Los Angeles.
Roberts said after Game 3 that he didn’t want to leave these guys in the air.
His tone after Game 4?
“At the end of the day, we’re still in a pretty good place and feeling good,” he said. “We are ready to go (Wednesday).”
If all else fails, Dodger fan, Than you may start to worry.
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Originally published: October 29, 2024 at 9:55 PM PDT