In addition to Aaron Judge and Aaron Boone, three New York Yankees teams are at fault for missing Game 3

The New York Yankees are 0-3 in the World Series after losing Game 3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The atmosphere is bad and the blame game is in full swing.

Let’s start with the obvious. Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge take most of the blame for this result and they deserve it.

Boone refuses to change his lineup to help Judge out of his slump. He started Jose Trevino instead of Austin Wells due to his at-bat, then struck out Wells for Trevino despite his batting average below .100. And when Gleyber Torres was called up high above the zone, Boone, who has been racking up sacks during the regular season while fighting for his players, remained on the bench.

Meanwhile, the judge succumbs to the pressure of the moment. Fans even tried to give him a standing ovation to bring out the Trea Turner-like feeling in him. He struck immediately. The odds of the Yankees winning the World Series when Judge bats .140 with 20 strikeouts will always be close to the floor. Shohei Ohtani’s dislocated shoulder did more for the Dodgers in Game 3 than the umpire did for the Yankees. This team simply can’t beat their captain who turns invisible.

However, these are obvious blame game targets that we’ve had to keep an eye on after every game in this series so far. So after the 4:2 defeat, let’s focus on other culprits.

What is it about Jake Cousins ​​that convinced Boone to put him in every World Series game to date? He gave up two runs in the first game and allowed two hits in the second game before staying out of trouble. He entered Game 3 in the sixth inning when the Yankees were leading 3-0 and helped them score another run.

With the score tied at 2-2, Cousins ​​struck out Gavin Lux, who, by the way, entered Monday’s postseason hitting .185/.258/.296. He then threw a wild pitch that allowed Lux ​​to take second. This wild shot proved costly as Lux headed home when Kiké Hernández singled on the next pitch.

Missing from all the talk about Aaron Judge is how ineffective Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been so far. in the playoffs. Chisholm isn’t the juggernaut that Judge is, so it’s less surprising that he’s struggling. Still, hitting .170/.220/.255 won’t be enough.

Those stats would have been more bearable if he hadn’t made the mistake on Monday and gone 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.

Chisholm was in the bottom of the fourth inning with Giancarlo Stanton in second (this is the same inning that ended with the Yankees inexplicably sending Stanton home to be caught on Anthony Volpe’s plate single).

In the sixth set, Chisholm took the podium with runners in first and second place. Stuck in the defender’s decision to end the shift.

The Dodgers don’t get much out of their best hitter, Shohei Ohtani, but they get by as others step up. And I’m not talking about Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, aka Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. People like Kiké Hernández, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman were important to them. The Yankees are getting more from Anthony Rizzo and his broken fingers than they are getting from their fifth batter.

We can certainly point to Freddie Freeman’s heroism as the difference in the series so far. The truth is, however, that the 3-0 streak is probably more to blame for the disparity in pitching staffs. The Dodgers’ bullpen completely outperformed the Yankees. In addition to Gerit Cole’s (wasted) performance in the first game, New York’s starting players were also outplayed.

In the third match, Clarke Schmidt faced Walker Buehler. The duel wasn’t even close. Schmidt managed just 2.2 innings, walking four and giving up three runs in the process.

It started poorly. He threw four straight balls to Shohei Ohtani, putting him on base without forcing him to check his injured arm with a swing. Then giving up a home run to Freddie Freeman not only put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole, but gave the Dodgers all the confidence they needed to go the rest of the way.

Winning the World Series is as much about psychology as it is swings of the bat or pitches in the strike zone. The momentum is real and the Dodgers entered Game 3 with everything in their favor. The Yankees had to set the tone early to make things look different in New York. Instead, Schmidt signaled to the opposing dugout that, yes, Freeman could still hit jacks in the East. Before Aaron Judge took his first swing, the mental game was lost.