Yankees Slap at World Champions and Get Knocked Out
Yankees versus Dodgers was presented as the heavyweight rematch between the 2024 World Series participants. What we got was a pretender to the throne in the Yankees being put in their place as the kings from Los Angeles punched the paper contenders off their throne, which were won at New York’s expense. The hyped confrontation of these teams' top knights Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, lived up to expectations. The Yankees came out slapping, but the Dodgers landed the knockout blows.
The Yankees came in with a five-game winning streak behind their newly christened ace pitcher Max Fried, the best in the AL up to that point. The Yankees struck first with the hottest player in MLB, Aaron Judge, powering one over the fence to deep center in the first stanza. Shohei Otani responded with a left-handed opposite-field shot to left center as they became the first reigning MVPs to hit home runs in the first inning. "Some of the stars really showed tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone commented.
The Yankees felt they were better than the club that lost to the Dodgers in last year's World Series. They had a more balanced attack in the lineup and an improved defense which was highlighted by the early home run barrage off the game winner Tony Gonsolin from Austin Wells, Trent Grisham, and Paul Goldschmidt. On the defensive end, the Yankees produced gems which included Jorbit Vivas, who nabbed a hard drive, and Aaron Judge with a diving grab in right center while Paul Goldschmidt was putting out fires with his professional situational decision making.
Fried was not the force he had been all year. He had averaged only two runs a game conceded. On this night he gave up two in the first five innings. However, he never got into a groove and was hit hard often. By the time Ohtani hit his second home run of the game, the Yankees could hear the knocking on the door, and Max would be handed his first defeat of the season.
It's no secret that when the outcomes of big games come down to the managers, Boone will normally fail to read the room. The lineup choices with Judge batting second and Anthony Volpe batting sixth made for bases-empty home runs and rally-ending outs, respectively. The decision to bring in ineffective Tim Hill and Yerry De Los Santos when the game was still up for grabs signaled a surrender of the game and let in all the final runs. The eighth inning decision to pinch hit for J.C. Escarra with DJ LaMahieu with two men on against lefty Tanner Scott dropped jaws all around Yankee land and served notice that, despite the improvements, nothing has changed a year later.
