The Yankees headed into Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead on the Cleveland Guardians, in what looked could be an easy sweep for the Bombers. Clarke Schmidt took the mound for the Yanks, and battled through 4 2/3 innings and only real blemish of the night was a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 3rd.
The Yankees continued to forget how to run the bases like professional ball players, or as John Sterling described in game 2 "drunks". Took me back to the days of watching Uncle Tim run the bases in slow pitch softball, just ignoring stop signs in order to get back to the dugout and his cooler of Miller lites.
After a strong 7 2/3 innings from starting pitcher Matthew Boyd and the elite Cleveland bullpen, Emmanuel Clase entered for a four-out save in the eighth inning. In what seemed to be a game that would go to the Guardians after the season Clase has had, Aaron Judge came up with a runner on. "It is high, it is far, it is goneeeeeee.....ALL RISE HERE COMES THE JUDGE" although it was not very high and barely cleared the right field wall, 2 runs score and the Yankees tied it up. Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back home runs, giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead and a renewed sense of hope.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 9th, Luke weaver has a runner on 2nd, two outs, and trying to get the final and 4th out of his night to grab a 3-0 series lead for the Jankees. In steps Jhonkensy Noel, aka "Big Christmas" whp tied Game 3 with a two-run blast to left field that sent the crowd at Progressive Field into a frenzy in the bottom of the ninth inning on Thursday night.
This was some grown man type shit. The way his bat recoils after contact, with type of force I haven't seen since Sammy Sosa was corking his bat.
And if you like a dramatic game look no further than the graph below.
One inning later, David Fry hit his own two-run homer to give Cleveland a walk-off win and life in the ALCS. It was a game in which each team's closer blew a four-out save, and it was exactly what Cleveland needed to get back into the series. In a game that had gone back and fourth all night, it had seemed like Cleveland who had their backs against the wall, was destined to win and now lose in 5 games compared to being swept. Thats baseball, Suzyn.
Luke Weaver has been asked to go above and beyond and has been nails for the post season and you can tell it was bound to catch up to him. Not pointing fingers, but I think Boone should've taken him out after the double he allowed was almost cleared the left center field wall to make it a 5-4 game. Then we got the old Clay Holmes back as he had to pitch the 10th and with two outs and a runner on 3rd, reminded us of why he was pulled from the closer role.
I would also like to take full reasonability for the Yankees loss. With two outs in the 9th, with that weird little skinny fuck, Luke Weaver on the mound, I allowed my roommate to bring me a sweet treat, which was a bowl full of apple fritter topped with 2, possibly three scoops of vanilla ice cream. I learned the lesson the hard way. I didn't go to the gym today, the Yankees hadn't won the game yet. I did nothing to deserve a sweet treat. I have to be better.
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