Scared, for Shohei.
Scared, for the Sequence.
Scared, simply minutes after all of it appeared so secure.
Within the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees in Sport 2 of the World Sequence on Saturday evening, Shohei Ohtani took off on an tried steal of second base.
However this time, not solely was he out, he was out, touchdown laborious on his left shoulder, ending the play mendacity on his again within the dust whereas ready for a coach to expire and assist him up.
The Dodgers stared silently from the dugout. The followers stared silently from the stands. Palms lined mouths. Fingers lined eyes. The dusty Ohtani trudged to the dugout as if marching by a nightmare.
“The scene, very concerning,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated.
The Dodgers’ seemingly inevitable march to their eighth World Sequence championship? Very, very regarding.
Roberts was calling Ohtani’s damage “a little left shoulder subluxation,” which interprets right into a partial dislocation. Roberts stated Ohtani would bear an MRI, however, “I’m expecting him to be there, I’m expecting him to be in the lineup.”
The Dodgers and their followers higher hope so. Their fortunes for the subsequent week might depend upon it.
That is an apparent assertion however, though Ohtani is only one for eight within the Sequence with one extra-base hit and no RBIs, he’s the tent pole that holds up this crew.
He’s the fixed risk. He’s the cornerstone of each opposing pitcher’s recreation plan. He makes the opposite man assume. He lets his teammates loosen up. He controls the narrative that has given the Dodgers a two-games-to-none lead with this Sequence going again to the Bronx for 3 weekday video games.
“You know how big Shohei is for this team,” Teoscar Hernández stated.
It was a actuality test on one other unreal playoff recreation, one wherein the Dodgers appeared to take full management of the Sequence and the previous couple of days of their season.
Hernández was thrashing. Tommy Edman was banging. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dealing. And Freddie Freeman, bless him, nonetheless was floating.
Ice Dice gained the evening earlier than the primary pitch. Blue-cloaked followers shook the Ravine till the final pitch. And thru all of it, Aaron Decide saved swinging, and lacking, and lacking, and lacking, and manufacturing sufficient humiliation to result in a single conclusion.
The Yankees are usually not in the identical class because the Dodgers.
With Ohtani, they might end this factor in New York. With out Ohtani, this might come again to Chavez Ravine subsequent weekend on a tightrope.
Teoscar Hernández hits a two-run dwelling run for the Dodgers within the third inning of Sport 2 of the World Sequence on Saturday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Occasions)
The Dodgers had been highly effective sufficient to take management early Saturday, and resilient sufficient to halt a late Yankees rally. The Yankees scored a run off reliever Blake Treinen within the ninth and loaded the bases with one out, however Treinen struck out Anthony Volpe and Alex Vesia retired pinch-hitter Jose Trevino on a first-pitch flyout to finish the sport.
The rally began, by the way, after Decide adopted a Juan Soto single with, you guessed it, a strikeout.
The Yankees are not so good as the Mets. They’re not so good as the San Diego Padres. They’re not so good as a half-dozen different Nationwide League groups.
Their greatest participant Decide is a bust with six strikeouts, together with two whiffs Saturday with runners on base. The underside 5 hitters of their batting order are inconsistent. The Dodgers have already got worn down the 2 greatest Yankees beginning pitchers, and their bullpen is a complicated mess.
They fumbled and stumbled and arrange the Dodgers for Freeman’s grand slam heroics in Sport 1, then, till the ninth inning, they merely failed to indicate up for Saturday’s Sport 2, doubled in hits and outpitched and outplayed once more.
With Ohtani, there may very well be a Friday parade.
With out him, put that parade on maintain.
The Dodgers owned the evening from the second Ice Dice delayed the primary pitch for six minutes by staging a mini live performance whereas strolling in from middle area.
Dice ended his stirring solo march by performing his hit, “It Was A Good Day” earlier than shouting, “It’s time for Dodger baseball!”
Seems, it was a superb day, and it was certainly time for Dodger baseball.
Edman led off the second inning towards outclassed starter Carlos Rodón by punishing a 2-and-0 pitch into the left-field nook stands for his second dwelling run and thirteenth RBI of this wonderful postseason.
Tommy Edman runs the bases after hitting a house run within the second inning of Sport 2 of the World Sequence on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
“Trying to just kind of ride the wave,” Edman stated. “It’s been nice to have one of my hot streaks come during the playoffs. Baseball obviously, you go through ups and downs. I actually ended the season on a pretty cold streak. So looking forward to the postseason, it was like, all right, I’m going to get hot soon. Fortunately, it happened.”
The Yankees countered within the third when Soto lifted a Yamamoto fastball into the Yankees bullpen in proper area for a game-tying homer.
However the Yankees’ elation lasted solely moments, ending within the backside of the third inning when Mookie Betts singled and Hernández and Freeman adopted with comparable blasts over the right-field fence. It was the Dodgers’ first back-to-back World Sequence homers since Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager pulled off the feat in 1981.
“You just go, fight your at-bat, try to get on base for the guy behind you,” Hernández stated.
It was all Yamamoto wanted, as he gave up one hit and the one run in 6 ⅓ innings, his second straight robust begin, forming a formidable 1-2 punch with Jack Flaherty simply in time.
The sport ended with a Dodgers crew excited by the two-games-to-none lead.
And scared to loss of life that their greatest participant won’t be there to assist them end.
