The Yankees need to prove they can get back up after being punched in the gut

CLEVELAND – It wasn't a three-nil game. But it was as close as possible.

Not just because Luke Weaver was 0-2 off Lane Thomas with two outs in the ninth and the Yankees had a two-run lead. But because the Yankees had turned the game on its head in the previous inning. Not just back-to-back home runs from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. But one of the best closers in the game is Emmanuel Clase.

So it would be as moving a victory as the Aaron era – Judge and Boone. In this way one hit to three-and-oh. The door to the World Series.

Then Luke Weaver surrendered a two-run home run to Jhonkensy Noel after allowing a full-count double from Thomas. Tie. Then Clay Holmes gave up a walkoff shot to David Fry with two outs and two runs in the 10th. And if you will, close your eyes, Yankees fans, this all happened on the Yanks' 20th anniversary, when they were on the verge of defeating the Red Sox in the ALCS, and then Dave Roberts stole a base and broke the biggest one Comeback in MLB history from Boston won four straight, ended “The Curse” and won its first championship since 1918.

Yes, these Guardians are not these Red Sox. But these Yankees are not those hard-nosed champion Yankees. And now it's not three-nothing. It's two games to one, the Yankees are still ahead, but both teams have bullpens up in the air, potentially opening the door to unconventional things.

So the Yankees all had the right tone from their choir – a heartbreaking defeat, but they believe they're good at turning the page, and they will, etc. But what Weaver couldn't close, what the Yankees opened obviously didn't want to see it openly – suddenly an outsider with a better fighting chance. An underdog who may not have “The Curse,” but has had the longest stretch since last winning a title of any franchise (since 1948).

“I really felt like I let the team down and myself down,” Weaver said. “At the end of the day it feels a little devastating.”

The Yankees didn't play well, but as is often the case when they didn't play well technically during the long season, it looked like their penchant for the long ball would save them.

They fumbled four balls at first base, two from Jon Berti that contributed runs and two from Anthony Rizzo, who was brought in for defensive reasons. Jose Trevino made his first start at catcher this postseason and Cleveland went 3-for-3 in steals against him. And Trevino, after batting in the first run of the second inning, continued the Yankees' unforgivable baserun errors by being batted out.

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When he did, the Yanks were leading 1-0 and five of their nine batters had reached Matt Boyd, who needed 39 pitches to get four outs. After the Trevino pickoff, Boyd needed 36 pitches to retire 10 batters in a row, another left-hander who humbled the Yankees.

This allowed Cleveland to come into its own, thanks to the assists of Cade Smith, Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis for Clase, who entered the game in the eighth after a two-out walk by Juan Soto.

Clase allowed two home runs in 74 ¹/₃ innings in one of the most dominant regular seasons of all time. But then he surrendered a huge three-run throw to Detroit's Kerry Carpenter and lost Division Series Game 2.

Still, Clase came into the game at just under 100 mph, singled Judge 0-2, went 1-2, and then Judge blasted a liner to right for a tying two-run home run. Judge went hitless with two hits in his last 23 postseason at-bats, was 3 for 66 in those spots without allowing a hit from the infield, and had not hit a two-hit home run in the playoffs since Game 2 against Boston Division Series 2018.

Stanton then had an even better shot, going down 2-0, fouling three of the next four shots and then firing a go-ahead shot that definitely felt like a game-winner. The Yankees even added an insurance run in the ninth, somehow capitalizing on another baserunning gaffe, this time by Anthony Volpe.

But Weaver and Holmes pitched in every playoff game. And Weaver faced Thomas for the third time in three games. He complained about not using Thomas as a key hitter, nor about Noel's game-winning home run that followed. An inning later, Holmes gave up a sinker to Fry and it was the Guardians who won on the power of three two-run home runs.

“Obviously it sucks to lose like that, but it's kind of a classic game and we'll be ready to go tomorrow,” Aaron Boone said.

Tomorrow is Friday, Game 4. The Americans start with Luis Gil, who last pitched on September 28th, against Gavin Williams, who last pitched on September 22nd. Both closers, Clase and Weaver, have been demystified and both teams face the likelihood of such a pitch needing a lot of depleted bullpens. It increases the chance for the unexpected in a series in which the Yankees came so tantalizingly close to leading with three quarters to play.

All it took was one hit to go from a win to their first World Series appearance in 15 years.

And now?