Yankees can’t hide from their mistakes against a fellow heavyweight

LOS ANGELES – Hey Yankees, you’re not in Kansas City anymore.

Or Cleveland.

The lightweight portion of the postseason schedule is gone, and on the other side of the World Series field stands a mirror image of the Yankees — only one playing the game cleaner. One that ensures the Yankees will pay for transgressions in a way that the less star-studded, less powerful Royals and Guardians could not.

The Yankees made mistakes in the field and on the bases and were unable to overcome them. Not in the wall of noise that was Dodger Stadium in World Series Game 1. Not when the Yankees could survive a bottom 10 plate appearance from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts and the Dodgers still had Freddie Freeman to do a Kirk Gibson imitation.

The Yankees had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the tenth, thanks in large part to Jazz Chisholm’s lay. But Jake Cousins ​​walked Gavin Lux with one out in the bottom of the inning. Tommy Edman then hit a grounder to center. Oswaldo Cabrera had come on to defend in the 10th after Gleyber Torres had been pinch-run in the ninth. It was a tough backhand, but if Cabrera makes it, he gets a zero somewhere. But the ball trickled away from him.

Ohtani brought that up with two on. Nestor Cortes, who had been placed on the World Series roster after not pitching since mid-September due to an elbow injury, entered. Ohtani sliced ​​a ball toward the left field line and Alex Verudgo made a sensational play by leaping to the left field corner seats to catch the ball. But because he was out of the game, the runners were allowed to advance a base.

So Betts walked, setting up a left-on-left matchup against Freeman. The Dodgers first baseman had not played in two of the last three NLCS games against the Mets — both started by lefties — as he was nursing a sprained right ankle.

Los Angeles had won Game 1 of the 1988 World Series when Kirk Gibson homered to right field off Dennis Eckersley here at Dodger Stadium and then famously staggered around the bases. Freeman crushed the ball in the same direction on a Cortes fastball off the first pitch for a grand slam.

That made the final 6-3 in Game 1 of the 120th World Series – a heartbreaker for the Yankees, who helped the Dodgers to this victory.

The Dodgers’ first two runs came on gifts.

Juan Soto couldn’t corral a ball in the fifth inning that spun away from him and, if played well, is caught and held for a double, but he went for a triple from Enrique Herndnez and Torres allowed a Soto throw to kicking away from him to allow Ohtani to add an extra base to his double after the error in the eighth inning. Being in third place, both were positioned to score on sacrifice flies.

In the top of the 10th, Chisholm singled, stole second, Anthony Rizzo was walked intentionally, and Chisholm stole third. Anthony Volpe then hit a slow grounder that bobbled shortstop Tommy Edman as Chisholm scored the tie-breaking run. But for some reason, Rizzo stopped short of second base and was easily forced out. Would the Yankees have scored more if he had just slipped in safely – we’ll never know.

But between the mistakes and Aaron Judge still not hitting — items the Yanks navigated against softer AL Central foes — the Yankees advanced. But can they do that here too?

Judge went 1-for-5 and struck out in his first three at-bats. He came up with two outs and two on in the ninth and a chance to break the tie after Soto intentionally walked him. But he stood out.

And the Yankees simply can’t top their mistakes if Aaron Judge continues to fail in a big way in the postseason.

Remember when the question was how much he would be walked out on purpose. The answer is once so far this postseason. But Friday night, Dave Roberts instructed Soto to run in front of Judge with two outs and a runner on second base.

So Judge had a chance to break the tie, but he lifted a skyscraper pop to the shortstop. Judge is 6-for-36 postseason with 16 strikeouts. He is hitless in eight at bats with runners in scoring position.

If Judge were to hit in October like Giancarlo Stanton, the Yanks would simply put Judge in Monument Park.

Stanton seemingly changed another postseason game, as he did in October. Jack Flaherty, the greatest Yankee, beat Gerrit Cole by a game. The Yankees trailed 1-0 in the sixth. And Dodger Stadium – where one celebrity after another appears on the scoreboard to demand sheer loudness – was on tilt.

But no one blocks sound better than Stanton. Verbal. Written. Crowd.

He fell behind 0-2 with one out and one on in the sixth – a Soto leadoff single and a third Judge strikeout in three at-bats followed. Flaherty then dangled a curve that floated too delightfully on the inner third. And Stanton did Stanton – he produced the hardest-hit World Series ball since tracking began in 2016: 116.6 mph. It went 132 meters deep to the left.

This time, however, Stanton’s power could not make the difference. Because the Yanks still can’t get enough of Judge. They continue to play a sloppy style. And because they’re no longer in Kansas City or Cleveland.

They are in Los Angeles against another superpower who will make the Yankees pay for no mistakes.