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    • Yankees, Aaron Judge is running out of time in World Series vs. Dodgers
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    Yankees, Aaron Judge is running out of time in World Series vs. Dodgers

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    LOS ANGELES – As Juan Soto singled into right field in the ninth inning, the visitor’s dugout at Dodger Stadium erupted into a spasm of excited hand gestures and glee.

    Sure, the New York Yankees had been held to just two hits from Soto by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, but they were down three runs in Game 2 of this World Series and suddenly their most dangerous man, Giancarlo Stanton, emerged. in the on-deck circle during the tying run.

    And then Aaron Judge stepped into the batter’s box.

    On almost any day this season, that would be cause for joy for the Yankees. But after waiting almost a decade to reach the World Series, Judge is in grave danger of leaving much sooner, thanks in no small part to his own shortcomings.

    Facing Dodgers closer Blake Treinen, Judge swung on the first pitch, a nasty sweeper that dove out of the strike zone. I looked at the second pitch – a slider that landed on the outside corner. And then, one pitch later, he again lunged at a sweeper well outside and below the strike zone.

    It was Judge’s sixth strikeout in nine at bats this World Series, his 19the in 40 at-bats this postseason – and things only looked worse when the Yankees got the tying run and winning runs on base but couldn’t push them home in a 4-2 loss.

    They packed up their visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium for the long flight home, hoping for balm from Yankee Stadium, where Game 3 begins Monday night. Still, a sign of life – a good look at the plate, a hard-hit ball, heck, how about a home run? – from their captain and assumed the American League MVP would go that much further.

    And Judge, the 6-7 power forward who hit 58 home runs this year and posted an OPS of 1.159, knows that better than anyone.

    “I definitely have to go a step further. I have to do my job,” Judge said late Saturday night as the Yankees prepared to leave Los Angeles. “The guys around me do their job and get on base.

    “And I let them down, I don’t support them.”

    Two games is not an example, but October can’t wait for such technical details. The righty is now 1 for 9 in this World Series, but it’s the six strikeouts that are much more troubling.

    They suggest a slugger who is confused, mechanically and at least a little mentally. To a man, the Yankees say the judge won’t push.

    Still, Judge himself dusts off the old adage that he has to take what he’s given, and if that’s just a few walks, so be it. Whether that defines printing depends on your perspective.

    “He has time to help us win some games,” Stanton said.

    But how – especially when Judge is chasing almost everything?

    The 6-6 Stanton brings his hands together – almost in a heart – to demonstrate.

    “You have to make your zone this big,” he says. When that happens, you feel like your plate is so big and you have to compress it.

    “He’s going to help us win some games here.”

    Judge somehow remains optimistic even as he realizes his shortcomings are hurting the team. He says they are close to a solution.

    That sounds great in April, when Judge struggled through a rough month before essentially going on a five-month tear to propel the Yankees to the AL East championship.

    How can anyone save their mechanics and their spirit when their team is two losses away from elimination?

    “It’s all about one at-bat,” said Soto, who homered and had three hits in two games. “I know it’s hard, but when you’re a hitter like him – and he’s one of the best – it only takes one at-bat. One at-bat for him to get locked up and go out.

    “Every time he hits that ball or whenever he takes that throw, it’s going to get him going. Some guys, it takes a while. But when you have a guy like that who is that good, it only takes one strike to get him going.”

    And if Judge is neutralized, the Yankees as a whole will be tailor-made.

    A club that led the major leagues in home runs and the AL in runs scored was held to four hits in Game 2 — and only Soto’s towering third-inning home run through eight innings.

    After Soto hit home plate, tying the game at 1-1, Judge was the next batter and sent a harmless fly ball to right field, where Mookie Betts collected the ball – starting a string of 11 consecutive batters being retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers starter. Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

    Yamamoto pitched into the seventh inning, the second excellent start of this series, after Jack Flaherty gave up only Stanton’s two-run homer in Game 1. The Dodgers threw them carefully and executed with excellence, and that has an impact on the biggest hitter in the Yankees.

    “Sometimes you want to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you,” Judge said. “You see Gleyber on base, Juan comes on base and you want to make things happen. But if you don’t get a spot in the zone, you just have to walk and prepare it for Big G.

    “It’s very simple: I have to start swinging on strikes.”

    He knew that in April, when he hit .207 with a .754 OPS and had all his numbers back by the end of the season.

    “It’s all the same,” Judge says. “You just run out of games when it’s here.”

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