LOS ANGELES — When Aaron Judge is the best version of himself, the version that tormented pitchers all summer on a tear not seen since peak Barry Bonds, he demolishes the 2-0 fastball Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw him in the sixth inning of the New York Yankees' 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
The 94 mph offering was on the lower half of the strike zone, down the middle, ripe for Judge on which to feast. But Judge didn't feast. He didn't even swing. Instead, it was a called strike.
«When we're going well, we can usually fire on that,» Judge said.
Judge fouled off the next pitch, a low curveball that he usually devours, too. Then came the knockout punch: a splitter that darted underneath his hands. Judge swung and missed for strike three, an alarmingly common result in October for Judge and Yankees.
The presumptive American League MVP went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Saturday as the Yankees dug themselves a 2-0 hole in the series. He is 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in the World Series and 6-for-40 (.150) with 19 strikeouts in 50 postseason plate appearances.
Simply, his playoff struggles from 2022, which drew boos from his home crowd after his historic season of 62 home runs, have bled into 2024.
«I think what it comes down to is just swinging at strikes, getting a pitch to drive,» Judge said. «You don't get a pitch to drive, don't try to make something happen up there. It's the postseason. Guys are going to make their pitches. They're going to pitch you tough, so I just got to hunker down and get the job done. That's what it comes down to and I'm not doing that right now.»
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Judge was expanding his strike zone, a problem he
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