Dodgers shortstop Yoshinobu Yamamoto overturned Yankees lead in World Series

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto fooled the Yankees over the winter with a few random facts about the pinstriped legends. You know, you can find out these things by Googling. In any case, whether intentional or not, it was a big change, and he made the Yankees believe that the rumors that he preferred to go west were wrong, and he really dreamed of the Bronx. Oops.

Well, Yamamoto did it again in Game 2, using a heavenly repertoire to make all the Yankees except Juan Soto look like hardcore amateurs in the game. Los Angeles wins 4-2. Yamamoto hasn’t been as advertised since returning from shoulder issues a few weeks ago, but he fooled us all again by looking like a monster talent who received a record $325 million contract from the Dodgers. (The Yankees offered $300 million before realizing he wouldn’t come, no matter the money.)

Yamamoto, who received $1 million more than Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (albeit one year more) and nearly doubled Yankees player Carlos Rodon’s $162 million second-game free agent earnings, had his best game in his first Major League career at a major tournament. stage. Add in a $50.6 million publishing fee, and it looks pretty decent today.

Meanwhile, Rodon was beaten – let them beat him twice. Home runs in the third inning by Teoscar Hernandez and grand slam hero Freddie Freeman were enough, and thus Yamamoto dominated. Coming out, after 6¹/₃ innings of one-hit baseball, Yamamoto received perhaps the biggest ovation of the night as Dodgers fans came to bask in Freeman’s Game 1 heroics.

The Yankees were expected to have the starting pitching advantage, but through two games the Dodgers were the better team with Yamamoto being the best of the four starters and Rodon the worst. The Yankees needed to have an advantage in the rotation because the Dodgers have a lineup that doesn’t give up and a bullpen that is either the best in baseball or the most well-rested.

The Yankees didn’t do the little things right in Game 1, but switched them into Game 2 when they didn’t do the big things right.

In two games they don’t look very good. In fact, they look a lot worse than the cross-town Mets against this powerhouse Dodgers team, which now shows why they were favored to win this World Series.

Game 1 of the World Series was devastating, with plenty to regret, from Aaron Boone’s risky calls to Gleyber Torres’ sloppy defense to Anthony Rizzo’s freakish baserunning to even Carlos Torres’ strike zone. The umpire’s auditor calculated that he cost the Dodgers 0.41 runs.

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No mistake or one man in blue could change Game 2, which the Dodgers dominated almost from the start. No late-game fireworks were needed in Game 2, as the Yankees settled for a bomb home run by soon-to-be free agent Juan Soto—he also scored in the ninth after reaching on a single off the wall—that just guaranteed two more games. during his tenure with the Yankees, and it was quite a blast.

If the Yankees are going to survive a minor upset and a major comeback, they need to win the rotation war to start winning the battle big. So far this is not happening.