Yankees, inspired by Red Sox ’04 comeback, want to make World Series history
NEW YORK − The electronic board in the New York Yankees clubhouse Tuesday night revealed their strategy in this World Series for everyone to see.
“Win Tomorrow Fly Thursday.’
The Yankees plan to be on that flight to Los Angeles after trouncing the Dodgers, 11-4, and staying alive in the World Series, with their players reiterating the mantra made famous by Kevin Millar of the Boston Red Sox in 2004.
“Don’t Let Us Win Tonight.’
It was the year the Red Sox became the first and only baseball team in postseason history to be down 3 games to 0 and come back and win the series against the Yankees in the ALCS, leading to their first World Series title since 1918.
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The documentary of that historic comeback was just released on Netflix.
“I’d like to make another one,’ Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo grinned.
Who would ever have imagined with their bitter history that the Yankees are using the Red Sox as their inspiration, trying to go where no World Series team has gone before?
“The one thing about us,’ Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm said, “is we love history. We love to make history. So, we’re trying to do something that’s never been done.
“I want my name in that history book.’
The first chapter was written with the Yankees finally looking like the Bronx Bombers, hitting three home runs off three different Dodger pitchers, surviving yet another historic home run by Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, with a confidence finally exuding from their clubhouse.
“I feel like we’re getting into our groove,’’ Chisholm said. “We’re starting to swing the bats well. That’s what we’ve been trying to do this whole playoffs, and it hasn’t been like that. It’s been like three or four guys going off, and now the whole team is in it.’’
The Yankees’ offense delivered in every facet, hitting three homers, including Anthony Volpe’s grand slam, stealing five bases, hitting three doubles while scoring 11 runs. It’s a feat no team has accomplished since at least 1898, according to OptaSTATS.
“We know we’re a really good team, and today is a reminder why we’ve gotten this far and are in the World Series,’’ said Chisholm, who had a single, walk and stolen base. “We’re still laughing and saying that, ‘We got this, bro.’
“This (stuff) isn’t going to be easy, but this is what we’re made for. … If anyone can do it, this is the team to do it.’’
There have been 25 teams in World Series history who trailed 3 games to 0. Teams were swept 21 times. Three teams forced a Game 5. No team trailing 3-0 has ever forced a Game 6.
Now, it’s 3 games to 1, with Rizzo on the last team to pull it off with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 over Cleveland.
“We just reminded ourselves that we’ve won three games in a row that year plenty of times,’’ Rizzo said. “So, we can do it again. And we did.’’
The Yankees looked like they were going to go down meekly again when Freeman silenced the sellout crowd before they could grab their popcorn, hitting a two-run homer off starter Luis Gil in the first inning. It was his fourth home run of the Series, and the sixth consecutive World Series game that he has homered, dating back to 2021, an all-time record.
Yet, instead of getting demoralized, the Yankees shrugged.
“It’s already happened in every game,’’ Chisholm said. “So I don’t feel like it’s going to hurt us any way. It’s becoming a routine to him, right? But at the same time, for us, two runs is never like a lot to us.
“This is a team that only needs two batters to do it, and I feel like everybody can do it, one through nine.’’
The guy that did it, reviving the Yankees’ season, happened to be the 23-year-old kid who grew up in New Jersey as a Yankee fan while idolizing Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter. He still has pictures of himself as an 8-year-old at the Yankees’ 2009 World Series parade.
This night, he put his name in Yankee folklore becoming the first player to hit a go-ahead grand slam with his team facing elimination. He also joined Hall of Famer Eddie Collins in 1910 as the only players to have at least two extra-base hits and two stolen bases in a World Series game.
The Yankees, who had been abysmal in the clutch all series, going 4-for-23 with runners in scoring position, were trailing 2-1 when Volpe stepped to the plate with two outs in the third inning. Dodgers veteran reliever Daniel Hudson started Volpe off with a 89-mph slider. Volpe sent it into the left-center-field seats. The sellout crowd absolutely erupted.
“It’s like you finally got to see the top blow off Yankee Stadium,’’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “in a World Series game.’’
While the fans danced in their seats, Chisholm jumped into the air, the Yankees hugged one another in the dugout, and Volpe momentarily lost consciousness.
“I think I pretty much blacked out as soon as I saw it go over the fence,’’ Volpe said. “I think everyone had confidence in everyone in the lineup that someone was going to get the big hit. We’ve been having such good at-bats and putting such good swings on the ball, that we just felt like it was only a matter of time.’’
By the time the game ended, with Volpe hitting a double, stealing two bases, and making a dazzling defensive play in the ninth inning, the sellout crowd of 49,354 stood on their feet, chanting his name.
He was asked where that ranked among the biggest thrills of his life?
“Number one,’’ he said. “Definitely number one.’’
Really, Volpe says, just the idea that he’s even playing for the Yankees, in a World Series, at Yankee Stadium, is almost beyond comprehension.
It still hasn’t hit him that he is living out the same dream he envisioned every night of his life, not only becoming a World Series hero, but being interviewed after the game by his idol, Derek Jeter on the FOX set.
“It is pretty crazy to think about,’’ Volpe said. “It’s my dream, but it was all my friends’ dreams, all my cousins’ dreams, probably my sister’s dream too. But winning the World Series was first and foremost by far. Nothing else compares.’’
Volpe’s home run was like an instant magical elixir, with the entire Yankee team exhaling. Before the Yankees knew it, everyone came out of their slump. MVP Aaron Judge, who was hitting .140 with 20 strikeouts this postseason, went one for three and reached base three times without striking out. Catcher Austin Wells, who was in a 4-43 slump, hit a double and a homer. Second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a three-run homer.
But the star of the show was Volpe, taking a page out of Hollywood, with a Yankee fan becoming a true Yankee hero with all of his friends and family in the stands.
“I can’t even imagine honestly,’’ Wells said. “Just his whole family going way back to being Yankee fans, him being at the parade in ’09, growing up a Yankees fan, now being the shortstop, hitting a grand slam in the World Series in a must-win game.
“I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that. That’s pretty cool.’’
Now, the Yankees are hoping to take their newfound offense back to Los Angeles, with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound Wednesday for Game 5. He gave up just one run in six innings in Game 1 before Freeman’s historic walkoff grand slam in the 10th inning. They also will have their closer, Luke Weaver, available since the Yankees were able to take him out after the eighth inning when they scored five runs.
“For us to get Weaver out of the game and have him available,’’ Rizzo said, “hopefully will be a big storyline.’’
The way the Yankees figure it, they now have the toughest part out of the way in their bid for history.
They won their first game.
“I’ve heard Kevin Millar’s speech plenty of times,’’ Rizzo said. “We plan to take that momentum, take that flight to LA, and it will be special.
“I can’t wait.’’
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