NEW YORK — It has been 15 years, nearly to the day, since Shane Victorino rolled a slow ground ball to second baseman Robinson Cano and, before Cano could even complete the throw to first, a sea of pinstriped gentlemen began streaming out of Yankee Stadium’s first base dugout to celebrate the team’s 27th championship.
That 7-3 conquest of the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series was the last Fall Classic game contested in the Bronx, a dry spell that will be broken Monday night.
Yet this time, it is not an expected coronation, but rather a cry for help that will mark Game 3 of this World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“We have to win,” says first baseman Anthony Rizzo. “That’s the bottom line.”
It is not what the Yankees wanted, coming home to a 2-0 deficit in this World Series, with a pair of dispiriting losses in Los Angeles that only provided so much consolation in the fact the Yankees went toe-to-toe with the Dodgers – who needed a walk-off Freddie Freeman grand slam to win Game 1 – only to come up short twice.
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Enter the homefield advantage.
“I think we need our fans more than ever right now, for sure,” says Rizzo. “They back us, they pump us up, they put pressure on other teams. The Bronx is a special place. When that stadium is rocking, we feel it.
“We need every ounce of their energy coming into Monday.”
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Perhaps the partisan roar will inject some life into slugger Aaron Judge, whose six strikeouts in nine at-bats have left a gaping hole in the middle of the Yankee lineup and, in essence, have the Yankees playing one MVP down against the Dodgers, who count three of their own on their current roster.
“The fans are going to bring the energy. When they bring the energy, they’re going to get the team going,” says slugger Juan Soto, whose Game 2 home run tied the game briefly, before a power surge from Freeman and Teoscar Hernández led to a 4-2 Dodgers win.
“It’s not easy playing in front of 40,000 fans that are against you. That’s why every team wants to get the top seed, to get to start the series at home.”
Games 3, 4 and 5 in the Bronx are pretty much the last voucher the Yankees have. They got a great Game 1 start from Gerrit Cole, who pitched into the seventh inning, only for an unearned run and Freeman’s heroics doom them.
They will now turn to Schmidt, who was off to an excellent start this year before a shoulder strain cost him three months until a September return. He’s been healthy and effective ever since, recording 14 outs and giving up two runs in each of his playoff starts.
A World Series assignment at home is no small thing.
“You can use it to give yourself a big boost. You definitely feel that when you’re out there. It’s definitely added adrenaline,” says Schmidt.
‘I treat every game, as we all do, as a must win. Down 2-0, whatever the record is, we’re treating each game like we have to go out there and win it. Nothing’s changing.”
Well, something has to change for the Yankees.
Maybe not process so much as outcome. They have 14 hits to the Dodgers’ 15, have been tied or within two runs in the ninth inning, knocked out Dodgers closer Blake Treinen in Game 2, and will only gain familiarity with the opposing relievers as the series unfolds.
Perhaps a gust of wind at their back – in the form of some 47,000 full-throatd partisans – will make a difference.
“This series could easily be 2-0, us,” says slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who hit a two-run homer in Game 1 and an RBI single in the ninth inning of Game 2, in a rally that fell short. “That’s what happens when you have an extremely good ballclub on the other side. It could go any way.
“They’ll bring the noise. They understand what’s at stake.”
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