Anthony Volpe is fulfilling a childhood dream to revive the Yankees’ World Series hopes

How many times did elementary school Anthony Volpe dream of this moment, lying in his childhood bed an hour southwest of Yankee Stadium, with Yankees posters on the walls, the Yankees mailbox at the end of the driveway, a Yankees game on the radio? How often had he imagined himself walking into the field in a World Series game, with two outs, the bases loaded, one out, and then hitting a ball into the left field bleachers?

He smiles. “Probably every night,” he says.

Volpe, 23, couldn’t imagine what happened next. In the ninth inning, the New York Yankees’ dormant offense finally woke up enough to take an 11-4 lead, so sure that the 49,354 fans in the stands spent the top of the ninth inning chanting his name.

The coolest moments in his life, he says, include: “Number one. Definitely number one.”

BACCELLIERI: Lessons from Game 4 of the World Series: Yankees come back to life after Volpe’s grand slam

Three hours earlier, it seemed like the Yankees were in a nightmare. They lost the first three games of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a defeat belied by their close record. The Dodgers outplayed them at every corner of the diamond: Los Angeles hitters hit more home runs, gave up fewer runners and ran the bases better. Los Angeles’ defenders turned more balls into outs. Los Angeles starting pitchers went deeper into games, and Los Angeles relievers allowed fewer runs.

For two rounds, Game 4 seemed to be more or less the same. In the first, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hit his own running around the house every day put LA at 2–0. (That’s four in the series, and as of 2021, six in six straight World Series games, a major league record). Before Tuesday, the Dodgers were 8-1 on the season when they scored their first goal. During the regular season, that number was 68-15, best in the major leagues. In the second, the Yankees committed their daily joke. After one out, Volpe moved and stole another. Catcher Austin Wells came on and hit a double into the center field wall. However, Volpe, believing the ball would be caught, only made it as far as third base. He slapped his thigh in frustration and grimaced.

“It’s completely up to me,” he says. “It’s not a hard read, we practice it and it’s created by Little Leaguers.”

Then something surprising happened: The next batter, in this case Alex Verdugo, pushed him home with a grounder to right. In the Yankees’ first three games, 13 players scored points. Only two made it home, one on a homer, the other on a misplay by Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman.

But the Yankees did well with the bats on Tuesday. The Dodgers, devastated by pitching injuries, had to play their fourth playoff game in bullpen mode.

Opener Ben Casparius struck out two frames, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called righty Daniel Hudson to the heart of the order in the third. He hit right fielder Juan Soto, but hit center fielder Aaron Judge with a four-seamer. Third baseman Jazz Chisholm scored and DH Giancarlo Stanton, down 1–2, was walked. First baseman Anthony Rizzo singled to shortstop. Volpe came to the table more confidently than expected.

His team was down 3-0, a Fall Classic deficit from which neither club ever recovered. He just made a stupid mistake at a crucial moment. After dominating the American League Championship Series, he had just one hit in the first three games of the World Series.

But he claims he flushed it all out. The rest of the Yankees insisted all week that his approach was a good one. “He’s just completely withdrawn,” Rizzo says. “Easy rocking.” Rizzo says even his foul balls indicate he has a good feel for pitchers.

“He’s definitely hitting better than his numbers would indicate,” Boone says. “I think anyone who has watched any of our games has seen his entry and exit to the game were excellent.”

Volpe had seen Hudson the day before; the right fielder hit him with a slider followed by six fastballs. Volpe wasn’t exactly on the slider, he says, but he had a feeling someone might be coming. He found a flat one in the middle and hit it with a hammer.

“I think I blacked out as soon as I saw it go through the fence,” he says.

In a way, Volpe is still the eight-year-old who attended the 2009 World Series parade, pinned between a metal barrier and Duane Reade, hoping to catch a glimpse of Derek Jeter. His locker at Yankee Stadium contains a bat decorated with a slice of pizza, an Eli Manning New York Giants bobblehead, and his dirty spikes. Rizzo, 35, calls him “polite” and “respectful.”

Volpe’s love for the Yankees goes back generations. His grandfather, also named Anthony, was only four years old when his father went to war during World War II. When the older man returned three years later, his son did not recognize him.

“He got to know his father by sitting on his lap every evening and they listened to Yankees together,” says the hero. “So for him it’s more than just a sport.”

To the sold-out crowd at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, it seemed like more than just a sport, especially after a miserable Game 3 loss that gave them little to cheer about. But they exploded when Volpe did it.

“I felt the ground literally shake,” Wells says. “These fans expect wins, and when you have a big home run like that that kind of ignites the team like Volpe did, he got some well-deserved praise.”

He made more later when his one-out double resulted in an eighth-inning blowout that yielded five runs and allowed Luke Weaver, who collected four outs against the Dodgers’ heartland, to sit out the ninth inning. Volpe and Wells, who were walking, made a double steal, and Volpe, making contact, scored when Verdugo hit a dugout up the middle. Los Angeles second baseman Gavin Lux homered; Volpe slid before the tag. This sequence made him the first player in World Series history to collect four RBIs and two stolen bases in a single game.

“Anthony’s jump, little run with the trailer, and now they come home and can’t get outside,” Boone says. “It’s the little things that happen there that turn into big things.”

Second baseman Gleyber Torres scored a three-run homer to put the game out of reach.

“Just a nice tack job,” Boone says. “It allowed me to take Weave out of the game in the last inning because I was going to go with him – if we’re up by two or three, I’m sticking with him, which kind of puts him in danger coming on tomorrow. “

Oh yes, tomorrow. Game 4 was an important game, but it was only one game. If the Yankees are lucky, they will have three more qualifying games. New York will send ace Gerrit Cole to the mound; The Dodgers will face Jack Flaherty. And with Game 4 getting out of hand, Los Angeles was able to rest all of its high-leverage players and prevent the Yankees from taking another look at them. The odds remain in the Dodgers’ favor. No team trailing 3-0 in the World Series has even forced a Game 6. But the Yankees can’t think that way. They have to try to win at least one match. And they will sleep soundly tonight.