LOS ANGELES — This was not a hangover. Being unable to shake the dramatic, traumatic result of Game 1 would have actually been better for the Yankees. Provided them an excuse.
So this was worse. This was the Yankees going down two-nothing in the World Series and looking for much of Game 2 as if they didn’t belong on the same field as the Dodgers.
If Game 1 was a classic, Game 2 was a class — with the Dodgers schooling the Yankees.
So what do the late innings mean? Because Shohei Ohtani had to be assisted off the field in the seventh inning with an apparent arm injury suffered after attempting to steal second. And after being held to one hit and one run for eight innings, the Yanks scored once and had two swings with the bases loaded before succumbing, 4-2.
That left the overall very bad for the Yankees.
Remember that starting pitching advantage the Yankees were supposed to have in this matchup? Through two games: nope.
The ability to go homer for homer with the Dodgers? Not quite.
The Yankees are losing, stars vs. stars — especially because their biggest star, Aaron Judge, is lost. Long lineup vs. long lineup is one-sided through two games.
The Dodgers beat the Yankees to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the offseason and to Tommy Edman and Jack Flaherty at the trade deadline — all advantage Dodgers.
Managing? Aaron Boone’s decision to not have Tim Hill go after Freddie Freeman in the 10th inning of Game 1 only looked worse when Hill got Freeman to pop to short as part of his four-up, four-down outing. Boone went with Nestor Cortes, who surrendered the walk-off grand slam to Freeman in a 6-3 gut punch to the Yankees.
But as far as carryover, this game was 1-1 through 2 ¹/₂ innings with Edman and Juan Soto exchanging homers. In theory, the game was stabilized. The Yankees were not reeling from being one out away from snaring Game 1.
Here is the thing, though: that homer was the only hit the Yankees managed in Yamamoto’s 6 ¹/₃ innings.
In the bottom of the third, the Dodgers would clock two more homers off of Rodon — a two-run shot by Teoscar Hernandez and Freeman following with a homer in his fourth straight World Series game (the first two with the 2021 champion Braves). The homers by Edman (a wrecking ball against lefty pitching) and Hernandez expressed what a grinding, lengthy lineup the Dodgers have — and that the Yankees are not matching.
Want some solace, Yankee fans?
It comes with the Dodgers and potentially the whole series suffering a gut punch. Ohtani was thrown out trying to steal second in the seventh. He jammed his left hand into the ground hard, laid in pain initially and was walked off the field with a trainer holding the arm in place. There was no immediate revelation as to the extent of the injury, but obviously, if the presumptive NL MVP misses any time, it would be substantial.
There also is this — the last time a team rebounded from an 0-2 Fall Classic hole were the 1996 Yankees — and those two Brave victories were far more dominant than this, done in The Bronx and by a defending champion seemingly at its full prime-age greatness. What we didn’t know yet was that the Yankees roster was filled with dynastic players that could handle that kind of challenge.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Yankees pitcher was set up to fail in untimely decision
- Heyman: It’s time for Yankees to make drastic Aaron Judge move
- Sherman: The Yankees aren’t in Kansas City anymore
- The two sides of Juan Soto showed up in Game 1
The Dodgers have three previous times taken a two-nothing World Series lead on the Yankees. They swept in 1963. But in 1956 and 1978, the Yanks lost the first two on the road before rallying to win titles. Those, though, were championship-proven rosters.
Who are these Yankees? Are they tough enough and good enough to now win four of five games against a team as deep as these Dodgers?
Because these Yankees are not a fully rounded team. As they showed in losing Game 1, they can be messy technically on the bases and in the field. They played a cleaner game on Saturday. But in either version, the Yankees figure out how to win by hitting homers. And they lost that in meaning in Game 1 — Freeman’s grand slam was far more vital than Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run shot — and in total (3 to 1) in Game 2.
And the Yankees need the might from Judge. But for the ninth time in their 11 postseason games, Judge came up with a runner on base in the first inning — for the sixth time with runners in scoring position — and fell to 0-for-8 with six strikeouts when Yamamoto whiffed him. Judge keeps missing chances to influence games from the outset — and really all game — and that is devastating the Yankees.
We wait to hear if Ohtani is lost and see if Judge can be found as the World Series now moves to The Bronx.