Yankees may need to go spiritual to save Aaron Judge this World Series

We’re not rather astatine nan constituent wherever it would beryllium adjuvant for 1 of nan city’s priests to return it upon themself successful an effort to hole Aaron Judge.

Not yet.

But past again, it astir apt wouldn’t hurt.

You cognize nan story, right? In 1952, Gil Hodges went 0-for-21 successful nan World Series against nan Yankees. The adjacent play he suffered from 1 of nan worst hangover slumps ever. Father Herbert Raymond, a 44-year aged parish leader astatine St. Francis Xavier Church connected Sixth Avenue successful Park Slope, who kept picking up nan newspapers successful nan unseasonably lukewarm outpouring of 1953 and kept seeing a drawstring of gutless Hodges games, decided to help.

One particularly steamy Sunday, successful lieu of a sermon, Father Raymond told his congregation: “Go home, support nan Commandments. And opportunity a dream for Gil Hodges.”

Soon thereafter, Hodges returned to his accustomed Hall of Fame form.

Every small spot helps.

Judge is now nearing that spot wherever he could usage nan help. He could usage a boost. He came into Saturday night’s Game 2 of nan World Series pinch a slash statement of .167/.304/.361. He’d struck retired 16 times successful 36 at-bats. And things didn’t get amended Saturday: 0-for-4, 3 much strikeouts, and a notably quiet ninth-inning at-bat while they were trying to travel backmost earlier settling for a 4-2 loss.

And look: players slump astatine each times of nan year. And really bully players person had their difficulties successful October. Gil Hodges proved that. So did Barry Bonds. So did Alex Rodriguez. It happens. It’s baseball. Baseball is maddening for a batch of reasons and arsenic overmuch arsenic anything, it’s intolerable to explicate why awesome players move crystal acold erstwhile they do.

The Judge we spot now bears nary resemblance to nan Judge we saw each year, unless you’re talking astir nan Judge who woke up connected May 2, aft 33 games, pinch a slash statement — .197/.331/.393 — that looks atrocious resemblant of nan 1 he carries now.

You whitethorn person heard: Judge recovered.

Now, it goes without saying, that he needs to make a akin bounce-back successful what’s near of this series. Look, aft 2 games, nan stars successful some sides person each delivered large moments — Juan Soto (another location tally Saturday night) and Giancarlo Stanton, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Judge is nan 1 who’s been dim.

And nan Yankees simply aren’t going to adjacent what is now a two-game spread against a squad arsenic bully arsenic nan Dodgers if their champion subordinate doesn’t commencement playing for illustration nan champion player.

There were a batch of jokes this twelvemonth astir nan Yankees being a two-man team, Soto and Judge, and that evidently wasn’t nan lawsuit because two-man teams don’t decorativeness successful first place. Two-man teams don’t cruise done 7 playoff wins successful 9 games.

But that doesn’t mean that nan Yankees don’t get their confidence, and their swagger, knowing that Soto and Judge are waiting for opposing pitchers 4 and 5 times per game. Entire crippled plans are arranged astir that harsh lineup truth, and pinch bully reason. They person been a reliably ferocious two-man crippled each year.

Needs to hap now.

Needs to return to The Bronx erstwhile nan Yankees do. The Yankees tin triumph without Judge astatine his champion but they judge wouldn’t want to effort it excessively often, surely not arsenic galore arsenic 4 times successful nan adjacent 5 games, which is nan ngo now.

Maybe it’ll return a alteration of scenery and nan absolute electrical shop that Yankee Stadium promises to beryllium erstwhile nan Series resumes Monday. Maybe it wouldn’t beryllium truthful unspeakable that erstwhile nationalist reside announcer Paul Olden introduces Judge, there’s moreover much oomph down nan invited than normal. Maybe nan aforesaid tin use erstwhile nan Bleacher Creatures clear their throats successful nan apical of nan first.

Maybe it’ll return — arsenic Aaron Boone has insisted clip eternal whenever Judge has slumped, and pinch cause, “one plaything to alteration everything.”

Maybe.

And possibly location are men (and women) of nan cloth who mightiness want to lend a hand. As we’ve seen, it couldn’t hurt.