LOS ANGELES – Some of the reasons the Yankees got into an 0-2 hole against the Dodgers were predictable.
Carlos Rodón has had a turbulent postseason, and he had another Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series. At least a few Yankees players have struggled defensively all year, and those offenders showed up again this weekend at Chavez Ravine. The regular season often features poor production from the bottom of New York’s lineup, and that was an issue in each of the first two games of the Series.
But none of those factors are as obvious as the biggest one — the one the Yankees don’t seem ready to overcome.
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Aaron Judge is missing at the plate.
He hits more often than when he started down. He chases the fields he used to watch from the area. He keeps moving in the batter’s box — which, according to Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, means he’s trying to find his rhythm — rather than standing frozen and locked in like he did during his record-breaking regular season. He blows his nose at mistakes that he used to punish when he hit a home run.
Simply put, he is not doing his job.
And when the Yankees go for an upset, like it’s been in this star-studded Fall Classic, and one of the best hitters in the world doesn’t do his job, the results are back-to-back losses against the elite Dodgers. a team that beat them in every part of the game.
“I definitely have to step up,” Judge said after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Yankees. “I have to do my job, if the boys are there doing their job with stability, I beat them. I don’t support them.”
The other two stars on the Yankees’ roster have hit all October, and they’re probably the only ones to do so in the Fall Classic.
Juan Soto homered at the plate; his solo shot in the third inning of Game 2 was the only Yankees hit off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Soto’s line drive off the right field wall in the ninth inning was New York’s second hit of the night, and he soon got another run of his own when Giancarlo Stanton followed with a scorcher down the left field line.
Is it a sandwich between two rockets? Judge’s sixth strikeout in the series.
Soto now has four home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.160 OPS through 11 games this postseason. Stanton has six home runs, 14 RBIs and a 1.098 OPS. Judge, meanwhile, is hitting .150 (6-for-40) with 19 hits, two homers, six RBIs and a .605 OPS.
“I think he made mistakes with me,” said Soto facing Yamamoto who hit the judge twice. “He made some good pitches in the first at-bat, and then he showed me everything. He showed me everything he got in my first at-bat. So I was ready for anything in my second at-bat. He made a mistake and I didn’t miss.”
Soto, perpetually brimming with confidence, seems to have every playoff game figured out. What prevents the Judge from fulfilling the same duties?
“Right now, he’s probably not feeling well,” Soto said. “It’s a difficult moment for him right now.”
The Yankees captain admitted that he has been expanding his strike zone, as it has eluded him in the world class that has allowed him to draw the most walks (133) in the major leagues this year. He added that his mechanics at the plate are “getting there,” and that his encouraging at-bats at the end of Game 1 didn’t translate into Game 2. Judge said the struggles he’s facing at the plate right now are “hard. little like” the struggles he faced in April, when he started the year in a slump, slashing .207/.340/.414 through his first 31 games.
But the difference this time of year is that he doesn’t have the cushion of a long season ahead of him to guide his mechanics. Judge should make every pitch in the Bronx count, if not for a big hit, at least a walk. The reigning AL MVP noted that Yamamoto gave him a pitch to hit in the sixth inning, when he was ahead 2-0 and the Dodgers righty threw him a fastball and it went in.
That’s the pitch, Judge said, that he usually connects to. Instead, he kept his bat on his shoulder and watched it sit untouched to hit one.
“Sometimes you want to try to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you,” said Jaji. “I think that’s what it really comes down to. You see, Gleyber [Torres] out there on the base, Juan gets on the base, trying to make something happen. You won’t find every pitch in the area. So you should take your trip and set the Big G [Stanton].”
Jaji is putting pressure on himself to go over to his team. It’s never been about the six-time All-Star’s personal stats. The thing he cares most about is lifting the Yankees when they need him – and they’re counting on Judge every chance he gets to make a successful catch because, often, he can’t. While Soto and Stanton did their parts, the American League players still need a Judge to be a Judge if they are going to be world champions.
“He has time to help us win some games,” Stanton said.
Sure, but not much. Judge must find a way to slow down the game so he can pressure the zone and get back to the plate behavior and power that made him one of the greatest hitters of this generation.
The Yankees ultimately can’t get up without him.
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. He previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow him on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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