News and Notes - You Can’t Feel Pain on Off Days

Game 3 is mere hours away.

Tuesday night I found myself in my kitchen at 11 o’clock frustrated and angerly chopping celery for my lunch. The Cleveland Guardians lost Game 2 in nothing short of an embarrassing fashion. My favorite player (Will Brennan)decided to forget how to play the sport and I knew I had to do everything in my power to avoid national media lest I hear the inevitable the smarmy quotes. “The Yankees path to the World Series is easy.” “The Guardians are overachieving.” “Luke Weaver is the best reliever in the playoffs.”

Annoying.

A dear friend of mine dubbed the bubbling rage building in my stomach as “playing-the-Yankees-itis.” Something so simple and yet, it did wonders to help pull me out of the vat of malaise I fell into somewhere around inning 5 on Tuesday.

The Guardians are better than this. They’re playing against themselves as much as they are the Yankees. Why? The pressure of Yankee Stadium? The wandering spirit of Juan Soto possessing our right fielder? The inexplicable inability to competently swing the bat the moment the pitcher dons pinstripes?

Then I realized it doesn’t matter why they lost Game 1 and Game 2. They know where their faults lie. Zack Meisel’s article says it best. The team knows what they need to do.

The Guardians are back home today, a fact that could contribute to the team’s success. Back in a jam packed Progressive Field and a jam packed Gateway Plaza. The stadium is going to filled with the loudest fans in baseball, something the team recognizes and appreciates.

Game 3 is here and the team has a chance to silence national media and perform to the level they are more than capable of. There’s no good reason that the Guardians cannot take the next 3 at home. The first thing they have to do is get past themselves and settle into the game the way they want to play it. This is the ALCS, it wasn’t going to be easy, but the least the team can do is make it hard on the Yankees. Bunts. Bombs. Chaos.

Guardsball.

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Jason Kipnis is throwing out today’s first pitch with some other notable Cleveland alumni slated to throw Games 4 & 5.

Mandy Bell has a quick article looking into the starting catcher role.

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