Don't sleep on these 5 Guardians who set up the G3 drama

CLEVELAND -- In the other dugout, they’ve got those guys who look like Lego figures that don’t match the rest of the set. Even on their worst days, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton tower over their peers and make the field look like a well-manicured miniature. So when they connect with the ball, they pulverize it over the padded fence and round the bases with the satisfied struts of men doing what they were born to do.

That’s how it looked and how it felt Thursday night, when the back-to-back home runs of those monolith men put the Yankees ahead, seemingly for good, and left that sickened, sour feeling in the stomachs of Progressive Field’s red-clad fans.

Because of Judge, because of Stanton, because of Juan Soto and Gerrit Cole and the new-look bullpen and the way the Yankees owned the American League Central with their rumble over the Royals in the Division Series and their effortless two wins in the first two games of this American League Championship Series against the Guardians, the word “juggernaut” has been used in relation to these Yankees.

The Guardians? Well, no one’s throwing around “juggernaut” about the Guardians.

This Cleveland club is not a collection of superstars, as we knew well when this ALCS started. But what we saw in the Guardians’ 7-5, 10-inning victory in Game 3 is what this team is – a collection of gamers who feed off each other, pick each other up and come through when it counts.

“We play a different game of baseball,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “And we don't rely on one or two guys.”

In Game 3, the Guards had a horde of heroes, including some guys who probably wouldn’t sniff the Yankees’ roster. And not just the obvious ones in Jhonkensy “Big Christmas” Noel, who spread some early holiday cheer by sleigh-ing Yankees closer Luke Weaver with the 404-foot, 109 mph rocket that tied it in the ninth inning. Or David Fry, the unlikely All-Star and October legend whose walk-off drive to the bleachers was the biggest moment of his life since the last biggest moment of his life.

No, you can’t spell “Guards Ball” without the word “all.” It took a village to beat the Yankees and make a series out of this ALCS, with Cleveland trailing 2 games to 1. These were the five other most important villagers in Game 3:

1. Kyle Manzardo
When the Guardians punted on whatever division title chance remained for them at the 2023 Trade Deadline by dealing Aaron Civale to the Rays, members of the front office had to fly to meet the team on the road and explain themselves in person.

Perhaps, in that moment, they should have just said, “Don’t worry, we got this kid Manzardo, and he’s going to pop one over the fence in Game 3 of the ALCS next year.”

One can’t overstate the angst in the air prior to the mustachioed Manzardo connecting with Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt’s 3-1 sinker and sending it out to right. The Guardians were down 2-0 in the series and 1-0 in the third inning of Game 3. After two games of unmet opportunities in the Bronx, they desperately needed somebody to clear the air.

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Leave it to a rookie batting second in his 60th big league game to come through and give the Guards their first lead, 2-1, in any game in the series.

“I found myself in a 3-1 count there,” Manzardo said, “and, knowing who's sitting behind me, Hosey [José Ramírez] and Josh [Naylor], nobody wants to walk me. They're gonna try to make me hit when I'm in a 3-1 count. So I was able to just get a good swing on that one. … I would say that definitely, definitely helps lighten the mood and lets everybody know that, like, we can get this going.”

2. Matthew Boyd
Five innings from a Guardians starter? Is that legal?

Apparently so. And with the prospect of three games in three days for the team for the first time this postseason, Boyd’s five effective innings were monumental. He went through the lineup twice and allowed only a run on two hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

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Boyd retired the last 10 batters he faced, seven on ground balls. And for that, he thanked his catcher, Hedges.

“Changing speeds,” Boyd said. “I think we got ground balls on a changeup, curveball, slider and a heater. It was just pitching. Hedgy does a great job back there. We were just reading swings, and he knew what was right. It was a lot of credit to him.”

3. Cade Smith
Ho-hum, another perfect inning from the guy who won’t win AL Rookie of the Year but probably should. Unlike closer Emmanuel Clase, Smith has been every bit as unhittable in October as he was in the regular season. And when he came on to start the sixth in place of Boyd, all he did was get Soto to ground out, Judge to strike out swinging and Stanton to ground out.

It took him 10 pitches to retire three guys who might all end up in the Hall of Fame.

Did we mention he’s a rookie?

4. Lane Thomas
Because of a missed catch error by Ramírez that allowed Anthony Volpe to escape a rundown and advance to third on a fielder’s choice, the Yankees plated a valuable insurance run in the top of the ninth inning on a Gleyber Torres sacrifice fly. That made it 5-3. And though Ramírez essentially atoned for his own error by scorching a grounder to the right side that caused first baseman Anthony Rizzo to make an error of his own in the bottom of the inning, he was erased when Naylor grounded into a double play.

So the Guardians had two on and none out against Weaver, whose ascension to the Yankees’ closer role after years of starting struggles in St. Louis, Arizona and Cincinnati is one of the more incredible stories of the season.

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It looked bad, in other words. And it only got worse when Thomas quickly fell into an 0-2 hole on two called strikes.

But Thomas, whose go-ahead grand slam in Game 5 of the ALDS got the Guards here, watched ball one, ball two, ball three to make the count full. And when Weaver tried to put him away with a four-seamer on the low inside corner, he connected with a double.

Noel then came up to pinch-hit, and the rest is history.

“I thought Thomas put a really good at-bat on Weave to kind of lay off some tough pitches, got back in the count, hit the double,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “And then obviously Noel really got into one. They scratched and clawed their way back in.”

5. Andrés Giménez
You can watch A LOT of baseball and not see a better defensive play than the one Giménez made to retire Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the top of the 10th.

Reliever Pedro Avila had walked Stanton with one out to give the Yankees a good chance to regain the lead. And when Chisholm bounced one to the right side, Giménez, who had driven in a run with a single in the sixth, had to quickly range far to his left just to get to the ball.

“I was kind of surprised when I caught the ball,” said Giménez, “because that was, it was really hard for me to get to it.”

Once he gloved it, Giménez had to spin with his back to Naylor at first base, transfer to his throwing hand and throw it sight unseen. The ball took one bounce far to Naylor’s right, and the first baseman stretched out as far as his 5-foot-11, 250-pound frame would allow to reel it in for the bang-bang out.

“It's not the best angle to throw the ball, right?” Giménez said. “Just throw it. I mean, that's what I think, you know, Jazz was running, and he comes flying down the line. I just throw it, and Naylor saved my life.”

Avila then intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo to set up a right-on-right matchup with Anthony Volpe, who struck out swinging. So Giménez’s play very well might have saved the game, too. In the bottom of the inning, Bo Naylor singled, and, two outs later, it was Fry-day once again.

“We’ve got José Ramírez, and we’ve got Emmanuel Clase. We’ve got two of the best in the game,” said Hedges. “But you know, we didn't win all those games with just those two. It was a new guy every day.”

And on this day, it was a bunch of them.