Yankees can turn rotation edge into World Series-winning formula
LOS ANGELES — The last time the Yankees and Dodgers faced each other in October, the World Series turned on the left arm of Fernando Valenzuela.He owned 1981 from the first day of the season and would not let it get away.Valenzuela was an emergency starter on Opening Day and threw a shutout.
Thus began a string of eight straight complete games to begin that year — or as many as there were in the entire major leagues through two months this season.The success and a distinctive style — looking skyward at the top of his delivery — while darting screwballs that baffled hitters gave birth to “Fernandomania.” The phenomenon would forge lifelong Dodger fans, especially those in Los Angeles who shared his Mexican roots.But no game more defined Valenzuela, none was more remembered upon the sadness of learning of his death at 63 on Tuesday, than Game 3 of the ’81 World Series.
The final start of his 20-year-old season, in which he would unprecedentedly (still) win the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young, was his fifth in 17 days that postseason.That included, on three days of rest, a must-win Game 3, since the Yankees had won the first two in The Bronx.Valenzuela gave up two in the third inning, two more in the fourth and none thereafter.
Los Angeles took the lead in the fifth.Valenzuela threw a 147-pitch complete game.
The Dodgers won and never lost again.The Yankees flew West on Wednesday — the 43rd anniversary of that dogged, defining Valenzuela performance — to face the Dodgers in the World Series for the first time since 1981, in a totally different sport.There has not been a complete game in the playoffs since Houston’s Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS against the Yankees, nor in the World Series since Kansas City’s Johnny Cueto in Game 2 in 2015 against the Mets.Valenzuela would have been removed in the third or fourth inning with the same performance today.
Only two of 76 starts this postseason have exceeded 100 pitches, only one has ...