The Guardians return home for a matinee matchup against the Rays, trying to steal homefield advantage by going up 2-1 in the series.
Here is today’s Guardians’ lineup:
There is a lot of messiness about today’s 1PM ET start. Many folks trying to figure out travel and work schedules to make it to the new time, some folks probably trying to scoop up cheap tickets last minute… I am confident the Cleveland faithful will make a good
showing despite it all. Now, what does the team have to do to win?
Keys to ALCS Game Three:
Get into the Rays Pen Early: Griffin Jax starts for the Rays and he is not a bad pitcher with a 3.53 ERA/3.76 FIP, but he has only gone over five innings three times this season. If the Guardians can work some counts, they should be able to get into the Tampa pen by the fifth and that’s where they need to take advantage. Jax has a 1.69 FIP for his career at Progressive Field and has an excellent sinker and changeup. He is going to try to get as many groundballs as possible to get through as many innings as possible. The Guardians need to lift, foul, fight and scratch to get into the Tampa bullpen and then pounce when they do.
Gavin Gives Another Great Game: Williams is the team ace, unquestionably, after the ALDS. He is no doubt feeling the effects of his efforts to push the team to this point. I would be very surprised if he goes more than five innings, and that’s ok. The team needs him to come out with his sharp stuff being, then be ready to bring in their relievers at the first sign of trouble in the fourth inning or later. I expect Tampa to be extremely aggressive early in the count… Gavin needs to take advantage of that and not be alarmed by any ambushed pitches from the Rays.
Get Something from Bazzana, Rocchio, Halpin or Martinez: Bazzana has been unlucky so we need some of his hard-hit balls to drop. Rocchio has been lost and pouting at the plate; we need him to clear his head, stop chasing, and put up good at-bats which he’s more than capable of doing. Halpin can hit right-handers decently. If he can ambush one from Jax, that can turn this series on its head. Martinez will likely enter the game when the Rays go to a lefty from the pen- if he can finally build on the one hit he got in Tampa, that would be huge for a team desperately looking for something from him.
Play Clean Baseball: The Guardians can’t afford hesitation or mental mistakes against this Tampa team. They can’t afford to let the pressure of the Rays’ speed and contact skills throw them off their game. They need to eliminate any outside noise about the game-time adjustment and lack of a sell-out due to that and due to inflated ticket prices. They need to remember this is THEIR turf and they have a chance at a pennant and play crisp baseball.
Players to Watch: The Guardians’ best hitters vs. sinkers this season are Chase DeLauter, Steven Kwan and Jo Adell. Their best hitters vs. changeups have been Adell and Bazzana. Chances are, to get to Jax, they are going to need a couple of these four hitters to pull through… and some gritty veteran hitting from Jose and Nate Lowe. Sounds doable to me – Go, Guardians!
