LATIMES.COM/SPORTS MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019D5
BASEBALL
The buzz of victory swept
through the visitors club-
house, echoing off the walls
and down the darkened cor-
ridors of Dodger Stadium.
Chatter and laughter
filled the air. J. Cole’s “No
Role Modelz” blared from a
speaker. In a series colored
with shades of October, the
New York Yankees had con-
quered. To the beat of a tri-
umphant anthem, they cele-
brated their way out of
Chavez Ravine.
“That was a fun series,”
Yankees slugger Aaron
Judge said. “You could tell
from the crowd. The fans
were loving it, we were loving
it. A lot of emotion.”
For New York, there was a
lot of encouragement, too.
In taking two of three
from Los Angeles, punctuat-
ing a potential World Series
preview with a 5-1 win in Sun-
day’s rubber match, the
Yankees beat the Dodgers at
their own game.
The Dodgers entered the
weekend with baseball’s
best record largely because
of their stellar starting
pitching and powerful of-
fense. Over the three games,
the Yankees were better at
both.
The Dodgers’ starters,
including Hyun-Jin Ryu andClayton Kershaw, were
tagged for 11 earned runs in
151 ⁄ 3 innings. The Yankees’
trio, none of whom began the
series with an ERA south of
4.15, surrendered just five
runs in 16^2 ⁄ 3 innings.
“I was very excited to
pitch here,” New York’s Sun-
day starter Domingo Ger-
man said through an inter-
preter, his only blemish in a
six-inning, one-run gem
coming on a leadoff home
run by Joc Pederson. “It was
my first time pitching here. I
wanted to enjoy it and cher-
ish the moment.”
Los Angeles couldn’t
match New York’s explosive-
ness either, jacking just two
home runs to the Yankees’
nine. It was the most long
balls the Dodgers have given
up in a series. New Yorkbroke a single-month team
home run record in the proc-
ess.
“Bronx bombers,” Judge
declared, beaming after hit-
ting a big fly each of the three
days. “I don’t know what else
to say.”
In the visiting manager’s
office, Aaron Boone also
wore a look of satisfaction.
The USC graduate, who vis-
ited with the Trojans foot-
ball team during the trip,
had a “Fight On” lanyard
looped around his neck as he
leaned back in his chair. On
the wooden desk in front of
him, a creased roster card
displayed the names of a
lineup that came to life in
perhaps its most important
series of the year.
“Guys were excited to
come and play here against agreat team in a great venue,”
Boone said. “I thought the
guys really performed and
delivered all weekend.”
Unlike Dodgers manager
Dave Roberts, who down-
played the matchup before
the game by saying, “As far
as what that means for a po-
tential matchup, I wouldn’t
put a lot of importance,”
Boone’s calculation wasn’t
so cautious. Though the
games that really matter are
still weeks away, there was
something telling about the
Yankees’ triumph.
“We all, if we’re being hon-
est, looked forward to this
series,” Boone said. “We
knew all the eyeballs [would
be on us]. ... Even though it’s
regular season, it felt big.”
In the jubilant clubhouse,
Judge agreed.“That’s the best team in
the National League,” he
said. “This was a big
matchup for us.”
The Yankees wouldn’t
mind playing it again this
postseason either. As the
team danced out the door,
utility player Tyler Wade
stopped to shake hands with
the Dodger Stadium club-
house attendant.
“See you in October,” the
stadium worker said.
“Yes sir,” Wade answered
with a grin.
When Judge was asked
whether he’d welcome a re-
match in the Fall Classic, he
too cracked a smile, embold-
ened by success in a mid-Au-
gust series that felt like so
much more.
“If it lines up that way,” he
said, “yeah.”Yankees leave L.A. feeling pretty good
By Jack Harris
Winning series from
the Dodgers is a boost
in confidence in case
clubs play in October.
Series was 5-1.
This game felt like both
of those games, and this
series felt like both of those
series, with the Yankees
winning two out of three
while looking very much like
the better team.
“It’s a good club,” Dod-
gers manager Dave Roberts
said of the Bombers. “It’s
good to put eyes on them.”
Except Dodgers fans
would have done well to
spend most of the series
with those eyes closed.
On Friday, the Yankees
pounded the Dodgers’ ace,
Hyun-Jin Ryu. On Saturday,
the Yankees scared the
bejabbers out of their closer,
Kenley Jansen, before losing
after a controversial ninth-
inning call. Then, on Sun-
day, in front of a stadium
filled with tired-of-watch-
ing-this witnesses, the
Yankees won the series by
completing a three-day
wipeout of the Dodgers’
offense.
Against five Yankees
pitchers Sunday, the Dod-
gers’ batters managed five
hits in 31 at-bats with 12
strikeouts, only three walks
and zero hits in seven at-
bats with runners in scoring
position.
For the series, the Dod-
gers scored only five runs
with 39 strikeouts, six walks
and only two hits in 16 at-
bats with runners in scoring
position.
They batted only .183 in
the series, and ready for
some more eerie familiarity?
Last year in the World
Series, the Dodgers batted
.180. Two years ago in the
World Series, the Dodgers
batted .205.
Ask any Dodgers execu-
tive and they will insist it
was the offense — not the
maligned bullpen or belea-
guered starters — that was
the leading cause of those
two World Series losses.
This is one reason they
brought in hitting guru
Robert Van Scoyoc. This is
why the folks on Vin Scully
Avenue have been so happy
this summer, what with the
new patient approach lead-
ing to the smartest hitting
team in the Andrew Fried-
man era, with the Dodgers
leading their league in runs
scored and on-base-plus-
slugging percentage.
So now, in the biggest
series of the regular season,
in their toughest test
against an American
League team, in the first
pressure situation that
could replicate October ...
they do this?
Twice in the first three
innings against Yankees
starter Domingo German,
they had two runners on
base with less than two out,
and both times they failed to
score after some miserable
plate appearances.
In the first inning, Corey
Seager struck out on three
pitches. In the third inning,
Cody Bellinger groundedout on the first pitch and
Seager flied out to deep
center field on the first
pitch.
“Make no excuse, obvi-
ously, give credit where
credit is due, but I don’t
think any of our guys has
seen [German],” Roberts
said.
Indeed, none of the Dod-
gers hitters had faced the
27-year-old right-hander,
but Roberts knows that
reasoning won’t fly in late
October in a World Series
that could be filled with
unfamiliar pitchers. And
their problems just weren’t
with German.
In the eighth inning
against Zack Britton, they
went down on five pitches
total. In the ninth inning
against Aroldis Chapman,
they went down on three
strikeouts.
There was little patience.
There seemed to be no plan.
It appeared they were re-
verting to the past October
all-or-nothing strategy of
swinging early and often
and for the fences, and even
Roberts acknowledged it all
seemed a bit rushed.
“I thought we could take
better at-bats in certain
situations,” he said. “I think
we did get a little impa-
tient.”
The offense’s weakness
was so glaring, Clayton
Kershaw was the losing
pitcher in a playoff-type
game and nobody can
blame him. Kershaw gaveup just four hits in seven
innings with a dozen strike-
outs and no walks in one of
his best games of the year.
Three of those hits were
home runs, and that was all
the Yankees needed.
“I don’t know if facing
them gives you more or less
help. I’m not sure,” Kershaw
said. “Hopefully we can find
out in October.”
If the Dodgers play like
this weekend, they won’t
beat this team in October.
The Yankees have a deeper
lineup, a better bullpen ...
and, yes, for these three
days, they had much smart-
er hitters.
After the three home
runs by DJ LeMahieu,
Aaron Judge and Mike Ford
on Sunday, the Yankees
clinched the win in the final
two innings with a full-count
RBI double by Ford and a
poked pop RBI single with
two strikes by Gio Urshela.
“I liked the way they
played the game,” Roberts
said. “They definitely mir-
rored our club.”
The Dodgers might need
to look in that mirror again.
They won’t see the Yankees.
They’ll see themselves
during their previous two
series on the biggest stage,
and it’s not a good look.
“It’s hard not to let it
creep into your head that
this could be a preview of
something in the fall,” the
Dodgers’ Max Muncy said.
It’s equally hard not to
feel just a wee bit of worry.DODGERS LEFT FIELDERChris Taylor retrieves an RBI double hit by the Yankees’ Mike Ford on Sunday.
Los Angeles was outscored 16-5 in a three-game series that was billed as a possible World Series preview.
Kent NishimuraLos Angeles TimesDodgers’ bats silent in series
[Plaschke,from D1]
“I think we match up
well,” Dodgers manager
Dave Roberts said. “I don’t
think that this series
changed my thought that
these are two very good ball-
clubs. But we both have a lot
of work to do if there is, at all,
a potential matchup again.”
While the clubs spent the
weekend acknowledging the
series invoked a playoff feel,
both sides also maintained
they were just three regular-
season games. But some-
thing was at stake Sunday.
The winner would claim not
only a marquee triumph, but
the tiebreaker for home-field
advantage in the World Se-
ries should both teams fin-
ish with the same regular-
season record and capture
their respective pennants.
The Dodgers have
watched their opponent cel-
ebrate a World Series title on
their home turf the last two
seasons, but that does not
diminish the luxury of home-
field advantage. It’s a fewer
flight. It’s more hours in your
own bed. It’s playing in front
of a rambunctious crowd in
your corner one more time.
And for the Dodgers it’s a
chance to play in a building
in which they entered Sun-
day’s series finale with a
league-best 52-17 home
record.
“It matters,” Dodgers
third baseman Justin Turn-
er said before Sunday’s
game. “100%.”
If the scenario does sur-
face in October, Game 1 will
be played at Yankee Sta-
dium because Los Angeles
was muzzled this weekend.
The Dodgers scored five
runs in the three-game set
and have tallied 10 in their
last five contests. On Sun-
day, they failed to support
another strong outing from
Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw’s performance
befitted baseball in 2019. The
left-hander compiled a sea-
son-high 12 strikeouts while
walking none but also gave
up three solo home runs. He
has logged at least six in-
nings in each of his 23 starts
this season and given up
three solo homers in each of
his last two. The damage
was loud but limited.
“I made four mistakes
and three went over the
fence,” Kershaw said.
“That’s no fun. Frustrating,
obviously.”
Those were enough be-cause the Dodgers couldn’t
solve Domingo German and
the Yankees’ dynamite
bullpen.
German gave up a leadoff
home run to Joc Pederson in
the first inning and nothing
after that across his six in-
nings. He posted five strike-
outs, walked two, and threw
just 85 pitches, capitalizing
on the Dodgers’ atypical im-
patience at the plate.
“They adjusted to us bet-
ter than we adjusted to
them, and that was kind of
the bottom line,” said Dod-
gers infielder Max Muncy,
who went two for four with a
double, a walk, and two
strikeouts.
While Kershaw began
Sunday with a 2.71 earned-
run average, that number in
the first inning was 5.73, over
two runs higher than any
other inning. It grew again
Sunday when DJ LeMahieu
cracked the game’s third
pitch — a curveball from
Kershaw — over the left-field
wall to give the Yankees a
quick lead.
Of the 20 home runs Ker-
shaw has given up this sea-
son, seven were slugged in
the first inning. He has
yielded three leadoff home
runs this season after sur-
rendering four in his first 11
seasons combined.
Aaron Judge doubled the
Yankees’ output in the third
inning by blasting another
Kershaw curveball for his
third solo home run of the se-
ries. It marked the sixth time
Kershaw gave up multiple
home runs in a game this
season and the fourth home
run he’s surrendered on a
curveball.
“I’ve always said solo
home runs won’t beat you,
but three probably will,”
Kershaw said. “You can
probably live with one or
two, but three is too many.”
Pederson responded to
LeMahieu’s leadoff salvo
with his own leadoff homer
to knot the score, suggesting
a tit-for-tat finale between
the clubs with the two best
records. But the Dodgers
went silent from there until
Will Smith swung through a
99-mph fastball from Aroldis
Chapman to conclude the
weekend.
“I don’t know if facing
them gives you more or less
help,” Kershaw said. “I’m
not sure. But hopefully we
can find out in October. That
would be great.”Loss could be
costly in fall
[Dodgers,from D1]OUTFIELDERSMike Tauchman, left, and Aaron
Judge celebrate the Yankees’ win over the Dodgers.Kent NishimuraLos Angeles Times