Alexander: Yankees stay alive, but is there reason for Dodger fans to worry?
NEW YORK — All right, Dodger fan, calm down. There’s no need to hyperventilate or reach for whatever settles your nerves.
Yet.
Did the momentum of the 120th World Series start to shift Tuesday night? It’s too soon to tell, but the bottom of the New York Yankees’ batting order showed signs of life, and so did Aaron Judge. That could swing the series if it continues.
New York’s 11-4 victory in Game 4 staved off the end of the baseball season at least for one more night. The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole will try to maintain that life in Game 5 on Wednesday night, and Jack Flaherty will be trying to snuff it out and bring a championship to L.A.
In the meantime, we learned this: When the going gets tough, Yankee fans get weird.
Or, at least, the two fans who were sitting in the first row down the right field foul line and decided in the bottom of the first that baseball really should be a fan participation sport. Leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres sent a twisting pop-up down the right field line, and as Mookie Betts grabbed the pop-up those two fans contested him for it, one (in a No. 99 Yankees road jersey) trying to rip the ball out of his glove and the other (in a Mariano Rivera home jersey) grabbing Betts’ wrist.
Yes, Torres was called out due to fan interference. And yes, those fans were escorted out of the stadium. If there’s any justice, they’ll (a) not be allowed back in for a good, long time, and (b) at some point will realize the utter stupidity of paying whatever those front row seats went for and essentially tossing that money away with such a foolish act.
“Fan got in the way, and the umpires got it right,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward, but I suspect even he didn’t realize how much the fans, plural, interfered with Betts. The national TV audience had a better view.
That and Freddie Freeman’s fourth home run of this series, a two-run shot in the first inning, were the Dodgers’ highlights of the night. Freeman gave L.A. a quick 2-0 lead by putting another one in the right field seats, and not only does he have a four-game homer streak in this series but six games all told, counting 2021 with Atlanta.
As it turns out, they’ll need more from Freddie because this night’s attempt at a bullpen game went south when Daniel Hudson replaced rookie Ben Casparius in the third, after Casparius was shaky (three walks and a double in two innings) but left with a 2-1 lead. Hudson hit 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,” walking him, Roberts said. “Then (he) gets a pop-up (to Anthony Rizzo), and he’s one hit away from getting out of it and leaves a slider arm-side to Volpe. That was the difference in that inning.”
Maybe there was another factor. Hudson pitched in the seventh inning of Game 3 on Monday night and struck Volpe out, but the Yankees’ shortstop said he picked up some intel from that at-bat.
“I was looking fastball” instead of slider, Volpe said, “but I saw him the night before and had a pretty good idea where I wanted the pitches to start.”
That goes back to the idea of hitters getting more familiar with relief pitchers over a series. It’s something to watch out for.
And what we’d said about the unimpressiveness of the lower half of the Yankee order? Fuhgedaboutit, as they say here. Volpe had two hits, a walk and scored three runs in addition to his four RBIs. Catcher Austin Wells, in the No. 8 spot, doubled, homered and walked and scored two runs. Alex Verdugo had a single and two RBIs on fielder’s choice grounders, the second when he hit one right at Gavin Lux with the infield in and Volpe beat the throw home anyway.
As for the other slumping Yankee? Be very afraid. Judge was 1 for 16 for the series with seven strikeouts when he stepped to the plate in the eighth against Brent Honeywell Jr., and he picked on a 1-and-1 slider that didn’t slide enough for a sharp single to left. If that mistake turns out to be what gets him going over the remainder of this series, the Dodgers indeed might be in trouble.
That said, the Yankees are now 8 for 32 with runners in scoring position, with four of those hits coming Tuesday night.
Game 4 demonstrated the risk of trying to piece together a bullpen game. When it doesn’t work, it can get ugly. Hudson surrendered the lead. Landon Knack took down four innings but gave up Wells’ homer in the sixth to make it 6-4 after the Dodgers had pulled within a run. Things then got out of hand with Torres’ three-run homer in the eighth against Honeywell.
Even though the game was close until the bottom of the eighth, this seemed to be one of those games where Roberts felt it important to marshal his resources. Hudson was the only leverage guy he used, and using Knack for four innings and Honeywell in the eighth ensured that everyone else will be fresh for Game 5.
“It’s challenging,” Roberts said. “I think you’ve got to be certain that you can score some runs (before going all in with the main guys). Certainly any guy we use tonight would have not been able to pitch tomorrow. Landon actually threw the ball very well. … Four innings is the most he’s thrown in quite some time. And being down to going into that last half, it just doesn’t make sense to use one of your leverage guys.
“… Where we’re at (Wednesday), knowing there’s an off day (Thursday), we’re in a great spot with leverage relievers,” Roberts added.
So this is one game and no more. The Dodgers are still playing with house money, with three shots at winning one game and, if necessary, two of those three in Los Angeles.
Roberts talked after Game 3 of not wanting “to let these guys up for air.”
His tone after Game 4?
“At the end of the day, we’re still in a pretty good spot, and we feel good,” he said. “We’ll be ready to go (Wednesday).”
If things don’t work out then, Dodger fan, then you can start worrying.
jalexander@scng.com