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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 Yankees4-2 loss to the 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 frequent result in October for Judge and the 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 believes stems from Judge not putting himself in a position to make good swing decisions. In other words, his timing is off. Judge said he was “getting close” to correcting his mechanics.

He said his October struggles are “a little similar” to his struggles to start the season, when he hit .197/.331/.393 with 40 strikeouts in 149 plate appearances through May 2. He went 1-for-4 on May 3, beginning a torrid 125-game stretch in which he batted .357 with 52 home runs and a 1.279 OPS to finish the regular season.

“When you have a guy like that, so good like that, I think it’s only going to take one at-bat to get him going,” said Yankees right fielder Juan Soto, who went 2-for-4 with a home run in Game 2.

Yankees hitting coach James Rowson said Judge was “grinding right now — in a good way. He’s up there. He’s giving everything he’s got.” He also noted the human element in Judge playing in his first World Series.

“More than anything, we’re in this spot and you want to do things,” Rowson said. “So sometimes you get a little anxious, and your mindset’s just trying to do a little bit more than normal. We got three games at home [next]. I think the homecoming will be good for him.”

Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. echoed Rowson’s thoughts.

“We’re all a little bit anxious, you know?” said Chisholm, who is also playing in his first World Series. “First two games of our World Series in our career. So you’re going to go out there a little bit anxious. I feel like when we get home, he’s going to feel more confident and he’s going to calm down a little bit more going into a home crowd.”

Judge has whiffed on 32 of his 59 swings (54%) over the past five games, a staggering clip for someone who led the majors in home runs, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and wRC+ while whiffing on only 31% of his swings. He has 13 strikeouts over the five-game stretch, his most in any five-game span since June 2021.

He clubbed home runs in back-to-back games during the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians, including a tying two-run shot off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 3. Other than that, he has one double, three singles and seven walks in the postseason.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton, who cracked a two-run homer in Game 1, has six homers and a 1.098 OPS in October. Soto, who delivered the go-ahead home run in Game 5 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series, is batting .350 with four home runs and a 1.160 OPS in the playoffs. They have fueled the Yankees’ postseason run.

The Yankees are now waiting on Judge, the third member of the slugging trifecta, to get back on track, to pounce on those 2-0 fastballs over the plate and affect games. Those around Judge are confident he will. Their championship hopes depend on it.

Said Stanton: “He’s going to help us win some games here.”

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Auburn’s Simmons faces domestic assault charge

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Auburn's Simmons faces domestic assault charge

Auburn wide receiver Malcolm Simmons, an expected starter this season, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of domestic assault with strangulation or suffocation, according to Lee County (Alabama) Sheriff’s Office records.

Simmons was booked into Lee County Jail at 7:20 p.m. ET. His bond was set at $20,000.

An Auburn spokesperson said in a statement, “We are aware of the situation, are gathering the facts, and will address the situation.”

As a freshman last season, Simmons was second on the team with 40 receptions, including three going for touchdowns. He also returned a punt for a score.

He is one of the players Hugh Freeze mentioned at SEC media days earlier this week, when the Auburn coach said he thinks this can be his best receiving corps since he was at Ole Miss.

Simmons is the second Auburn player to be arrested this month. Linebacker D.J. Barber was dismissed from the team last week while facing multiple drug charges, including trafficking marijuana.

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Court reverses decision on Badgers’ Fourqurean

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Court reverses decision on Badgers' Fourqurean

MADISON, Wis. — The status of Wisconsin cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean for this season is now unclear after a federal appeals court overturned a preliminary injunction that had granted him another year of NCAA eligibility.

In a 2-1 decision rendered Wednesday, Seventh Circuit judges reversed the ruling by a lower court, after the NCAA appealed.

Fourqurean, a fifth-year senior, had argued that his first two college seasons at Division II Grand Valley State should not count toward his eligibility.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia is expected to play again after winning his court case last year on the grounds that his two seasons at a junior college do not count. The NCAA is appealing that decision but granted a blanket waiver that will allow Pavia and other athletes who played at non-NCAA Division I schools prior to enrollment an extra year of eligibility if they were going to exhaust their eligibility this year.

The path forward for Fourqurean, a projected starter, is less clear with Wisconsin’s season opener against Miami (Ohio) on Aug. 28 just over six weeks away. Messages sent to attorneys listed as his representatives in court documents, as well as spokespeople for Wisconsin football, were not immediately returned.

The NCAA released a statement after Wednesday’s ruling, noting it “will continue to work together to provide unparalleled opportunities for student-athletes and future generations.”

“The member-approved rules, including years of eligibility, are designed to help ensure competition is safe and fair — aligning collegiate academic and athletic careers to provide high-level opportunities and benefits to hundreds of thousands of student-athletes,” the NCAA said. “We are thankful the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed the district court’s decision.”

Fourqurean testified during a U.S. District Court hearing in February that he would make “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in name, image and likeness compensation if he were to play this season. After judge William Conley granted him the preliminary injunction, Fourqurean pulled out of NFL draft consideration and took part in spring practices.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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‘Starving’: Bama ready for DeBoer revenge tour

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'Starving': Bama ready for DeBoer revenge tour

ATLANTA — As Alabama looks to improve upon last season’s 9-4 record in its second season under head coach Kalen DeBoer, those within the program are well aware of the lofty expectations but say they enter this season with a greater sense of comfort surrounding the program’s future under DeBoer.

“I feel like especially last year, it is hard, man,” Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson told ESPN on Wednesday at SEC media days. “You’re coming from Coach Saban to Coach DeBoer, everyone — everyone — is going to have something to say. Everyone wants to know, ‘How’s the new coach?’ or ‘What’s the difference?’ or something like that. But yeah man, we were all for Coach DeBoer. I remember he walked in — the first day he walked in — we all sat up in our chairs ready to go. And from that day we all been on the DeBoer train, probably more now than ever.”

Last year, Alabama lost four games and finished outside the Associated Press Top 10 for the first time since 2007. It was the third time in 11 seasons the Tide missed the playoff, this time finishing No. 11 in the selection committee’s final ranking but getting bumped from the 12-team field to make room for three-loss ACC champion Clemson.

While preseason favorite Texas has garnered the most spotlight here at the College Football Hall of Fame, where media days are being held, there’s a quiet confidence brewing at Alabama.

“We’re starving,” Lawson said. “We’re not hungry, we’re like starving. And that’s different. That’s different. … Just to see no one transfer out of here when the time came, man, it just shows you that we got guys that’s willing to do what they have to do to make us the most successful team that we can be. I’m just super excited. I know the guys are ready, and we go at it with each other every day, and I’m sure we all can’t wait until we see a different color jersey even though we haven’t even got into camp yet.”

DeBoer said he’s spending less time building the culture of the program and more time breaking down what happened in the four losses last year, and how they’ll operate when certain situations happen.

“That’s where we have to be better,” he said. “because we fell short, five- six- seven-point losses. It’s one play here, one play there that might have changed the outlook of the game.

“In some cases, it wasn’t something anyone was doing wrong, it was just, ‘Man, be better,'” he said. “It’s not on the players, it’s not on the coaches, it’s just reps. Repetitions. Just do more together, more time together helps you feel more comfortable.”

Even with a new quarterback and a familiar face in first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who was with DeBoer at Washington, DeBoer said his gut feeling about this year’s team is simply having a better sense of who it is.

“You still don’t know Week 1 exactly what it’s going to look like, right?” he said. “… I know what I’ve got with these guys. It doesn’t guarantee you anything, but it gives you optimism, a lot of excitement, and continue to keep it honed in and headed in the right direction all together.”

DeBoer has said that if the season started today, Simpson would be the starter, but he continued to stress that he will be tracking all of the quarterbacks’ throws at practices, and watching their poise and leadership. Simpson, the most experienced of the bunch, completed 58% of his passes for 381 yards in three seasons at Alabama. Austin Mack was with DeBoer at Washington before following him to Alabama, where he went 2-for-3 for 39 yards and a touchdown in his lone appearance last season. Incoming freshman Keelon Russell was the No. 2 overall recruit in this year’s ESPN 300 and was the 2024 Gatorade High School Football Player of the Year.

DeBoer said Simpson doesn’t want to let anyone down — almost to a fault — and wants to make sure the young quarterback knows that, “if you’ve given everything you have, you’re not letting us down because he didn’t convert a third down, or didn’t have a drive that ended in a touchdown. … you don’t have to live in that, the fear of failure.”

“When you’re not experienced … sometimes you feel like, ‘Man, I want to go make that play,’ and it isn’t the right calculated risk to take,” DeBoer said, “… or things happen a little faster because you don’t have enough of those reps, but he’s done a great job. He’s working hard to make sure he’s taking care of the football, leading us. He’s obviously a great teammate.”

Alabama offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor said he’s confident in the pass protection “for whoever’s back there” at quarterback. He, too, said he’s confident in DeBoer, whom he said shares some of the same qualities as former legendary coach Nick Saban.

“I knew that our athletic director wasn’t just going to choose anybody to have this position,” Proctor said, “and if coach DeBoer being there is the right fit, then I’m behind it.”

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