Disaster. Rizzo & Yank Blunders Blow Big Lead. Season Ends. LA 7 NY 6

November 2, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Aaron Judge hits 2-run homer in 1st to put NY up 2-0.

Aaron Judge hit a 2-run Homer, Jazz Chisholm hit a homer, Giancarlo Stanton hit a homer and the Yanks were Cruising with a 5-0 lead into the 5th with Gerrit Cole pitching a no-hitter.

The Yanks had all momentum to send this World Series back to LA and possibly win it.

And then…

Aaron Judge dropped an easy line-drive fly, Anthony Volpe tried to throw a guy out at 3rd instead of making the play to 1st and bounced his throw for an error, and bases were loaded with nobody out.

Gerrit Cole got tough — striking out the next 2 batters, including Shohei Ohtani, and got Mookie Betts to hit an easy grounder to 1st which should have ended the inning with the Yanks still up 5-0. Anthony Rizzo fielded the ball — and then — inexplicably — instead of running the 9 feet to the bag for the out — waited for Gerrit Cole to cover. Cole realizing he couldn’t out-race Betts flying down the line, motioned Rizzo to take it — and Rizzo simply jogged to the bag too late.

A Bill Buckner-esq play for Rizzo, playing with a nonchalance as if it was Spring training.

Instead of ending the inning with Yanks up 5-0, the floodgates were opened — and a Freddie Freeman single and Teoscar Hernandez double later it was a tie game.

The Yanks weren’t dead — they got a run to take a 6-5 lead to the 8th. But Tommy Kahnle imploded — single, single, walk loaded the bases with nobody out — and 2 sac flies against Luke Weaver later, LA had the 7-6 game and World Series win, celebrating at Yankee Stadium.

The Rizzo play will be remembered for the rest of many Yankee fans lives.

“Those balls off righties, those cappers, are the hardest balls for us,” said Rizzo afterwards. “Especially after what transpired throughout the inning, I kind of was going for it and it kicked one way, so I had to really make sure to catch it first and looked up to flip and.. yea that’s what happened.”

“I took a bad angle to the ball; I wasn’t sure how hard he hit it,” said Cole. “I took a direct angle to it to cut it off and by the ball got by me I was not in a position to cover 1st — neither of us were based on the spin of the baseball and him having to secure it.”

“It’s brutal,” summed up Cole.

1. Judge & Chisholm HR’s in 1st

It started off so wonderfully — Juan Soto walked and Aaron Judge shut up the naysayers with a bomb to rightcenter for a 2-0 Yankee lead off Jake Flaherty.

Next batter Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a Bomb to the same place and it was 3-0 NY!

2. Yanks Knock Out Flaherty by 2nd

The Yanks continued to rake Flaherty in the bottom of the 2nd — Anthony Volpe leading off with a double, and Alex Verdugo ripping an RBI single for a 4-0 Yankee lead.

That knocked out Flaherty, and in came Anthony Banda to pitch. Banda walked Soto and Judge to load the bases with 2 outs — but Chisholm grounded out to 1st — the Yanks were a single away from breaking the game wide open.

3. Giancarlo HR Makes It 5-0 NY

Giancarlo Stanton ripped a homer to opposite-field right leading off the 3rd off Ryan Brasier for a 5-0 Yankee lead. The Yankees were Back.

4. Cole Brilliant

Meanwhile Gerrit Cole was Brilliant — retiring the first 8 batters of the game before a 2-out walk in the 3rd.

Cole got into a little trouble in the 4th — a leadoff walk to Betts, and a HIGH FLY TO THE WALL in right center by Freddie Freeman that Judge made a spectacular catch on while banging into the wall, robbing Freeman of at least a double and possibly a 2-run homer.

Cole then got the final outs of the inning and went into the 5th with a no hitter and a 5-0 lead.

5. The Disaster 5th

And then disaster struck. A leadoff single by Teoscar Hernandez. Cole got Tommy Edman to hit an easy lineout to center but Aaron Judge inexplicably dropped the ball. It was Judge’s first error of the season.

Will Smith hit a grounder to short, and Anthony Volpe tried to get the runner at 3rd, bouncing the throw and Chisholm couldn’t pick it — it went for an error by Volpe and bases were loaded with nobody out.

Cole got tough — striking out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani.

And then the easy grounder to 1st by Betts to end the inning. Not.

Cole got ahead of Freddie Freeman 1-2, but he then singled in 2 to make it a 5-3 game. Cole got ahead of Teoscar Hernandez 0-2, but he then doubled in 2 more — tie game 5-5.

6. Yanks Jump Back Ahead 6-5

The Yanks loaded the bases after 2 were out in the bottom of the 5th — a Volpe single, Wells hit by pitch, and Verdugo walk — but Gleyber Torres flied out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 6th however, leadoff walks to Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, a grounder by Jazz Chisholm to move the runners, and a sac fly by Giancarlo Stanton put the Yanks back up 6-5. There was hope.

7. Cole Pitched Into the 7th

Meanwhile Gerrit Cole continued to pitch, even after having to throw 38 pitches and get 6 outs in the 5th. And he was dogged — getting a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th on 11 pitches, and getting Ohtanit and Betts to lead off the 7th, before walking Freeman and being relieved by Clay Holmes.

An AMAZING performance by Gerrit Cole — the Yankee fielders let him down.

8. Holmes Did His Job

Clay Holmes walked the first batter he faced, but then struck out Max Muncy to end the 7th with NY up 6-5.

9. Kahnle Doesn’t Get It Done

And then on the radio Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling jinxed the Yanks — as they talked about how the Dodger bullpen had not been impressive in this series, and the Yanks were set up with Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver for the 8th and 9th.

Tommy Kahnle immediately imploded, allowing consecutive singles by Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman to lead off the 8th, and then walking Will Smith on 4 pitches to load the bases with nobody out.

Luke Weaver came in and went 2-2 on Gavin Lux looking for the strikeout, but Lux hit a 3-2 fastball to center for a sac fly and tie game — the runners moving to 2nd and 3rd.

Shohei Ohtani reached 1st on catcher’s interference to load the bases again with 1 out, and Mookie Betts hit a sac fly to center for a 7-6 Dodger lead.

Weaver struck out Freeman but the Yanks were now down.

10. Dodgers Close with Buehler

And in came starter Walker Buehler to pitch.

Aaron Judge — now hot — hit a 1-out double in the 8th to put the tying run on 2nd, and Chisholm walked behind him, but Giancarlo Stanton lined out to right and Anthony Rizzo — in a plate appearance where he could have redeemed himself — struck out.

And that was it for the Yanks — in the bottom of the 9th, Buehler got Volpe to ground out, and struck out Wells and Verdugo for the old ballgame. And World Series win. And the celebration by the Dodgers on the field at Yankee Stadium began.

A bitter, bitter end to the Yankee season. NY seemed like the better team.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401701044

 

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