Oh, so now Dave Roberts doesn’t want to talk about a 3-0 series lead.
The Dodgers manager jokingly interrupted a reporter Monday night who referenced his legacy-defining role in the Red Sox rallying from a 3-0 hole against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS now that his Dodgers are attempting to avoid the same fate after grabbing the same lead in the World Series.
“Don’t talk about that,” said Roberts, whose stolen base off Mariano Rivera in Game 4 changed that series 20 years ago.”Wrong guy. Way too early.”
Roberts can laugh and smile since his team clearly looks like the better team and has a chance to complete a sweep Tuesday night after grabbing a 4-2 win in Game 3 on Wednesday.
“I don’t want to divulge any secrets, but from the other side, I just think we have got to stay focused, stay urgent,” Roberts said. “I think offensively, to be quite honest, we left a lot of runs out there (Monday), still found a way to win a ball game and there’s just got to be urgency.
“I just don’t want to let these guys up for air.”
For as bad as things look for the Yankees right now, things looked just as grim for the Red Sox in 2004 after they dropped Game 3, 19-8, at home to put their season on the brink.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Yankees’ season ends in heartbreak as they choke away Game 5 of World Series
- Aaron Judge’s crucial mistake erased breakout World Series moment
- Yankees’ Austin Wells hit with catcher’s interference call in brutal World Series moment
- Juan Soto’s season ends with million-dollar questions with Yankees future now murky
But Roberts stole second base off Rivera in the ninth in Game 4 and scored on a game-tying single by Bill Mueller and the rest is history.
The Red Sox won Games 4 and 5 in extra innings, grabbed a 4-2 win in the infamous “Bloody Sock” Game 6 and then won Game 7 in The Bronx in a rout.
Those 2004 Red Sox are the only team among the 40 in baseball history to ever rally from a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven series, per MLB.com, and one of just two to even reach a Game 7.
The Yankees will settle for even a Game 5 right now since the Dodgers appear to be out of their league so far, even if the last two games only featured 4-2 finals.
The Yankees’ alleged starting pitching advantage has not translated, their lineup has struggled and the Dodgers have found ways to exploit their flaws.
“In our heads, it’s to win one game,” struggling Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “That’s how it starts. We’re down 3-0, we win one game, you never know what’s going to happen. It’s about looking to the next game we got (Tuesday) and that’s all we got.”
