DETROIT — It’s dangerous to overreach in baseball. Especially in the playoffs.
Do it one too many times and you can get slapped upside the head but good.
In the last two games of the American League Division Series, that’s exactly what the Guardians have done. It’s one of the reasons they could be eliminated Thursday night by the Tigers in Game 4 at Comerica Park.
Manager Stephen Vogt often talks about the cadence or tempo that the Guardians have maintained this season. Well, that cadence has been on a bender for Games 2 and 3 of the ALDS.
Bringing Emmanuel Clase into the eighth inning of Game 2 on Monday was a departure from the way he’s used him all year. Clase allowing a game-winning three-run homer with two-out in the ninth was a departure as well.
In Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to the Tigers, Vogt went to his bench in the second and third innings for pinch-hitters Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry. Vogt loves pinch hitters, but he never used them that early in the regular season.
The playoffs aren’t the regular season. A sense of urgency rules. But the game can’t be rushed or bullied. It’s still nine innings. An opporunity that presents itself in the second inning can easily reappear in the seventh.
Then there’s this. When a manager and a coaching staff depart from their normal tactics, the players, the ones doing the work on the field, may catch a sense of desperation. Or worse, a lack of confidence in their talent.
In short, the postseason is not a license to turn into Mr. Vegas. Every matchup is not a winner.
No doubt the Tigers have presented multiple problems for Vogt and the Guardians. They have perfected the art of the bullpen game with an array of lefties and righties who can neutralize an offense.
They swept the Astros in the wild card series. In Game 1 of the ALDS, they had the audacity to use a bullpen game instead of a traditional starter. The Guardians made them pay with a five-run first inning, but they’ve been one step behind Tiger manager A.J. Hinch ever since.
Detroit started right-hander Keider Montero on Wednesday. He needed six pitches to retire the Guardians in order. Usually that’s a good sign, but Hinch took it was an invitation to go to his bullpen.
Why not, he already had a 1-0 lead.
Vogt said they were prepared for a one-inning appearance by Montero, but when lefty Brant Hurter started the second it looked there was a drop, duck and roll drill going on in Cleveland dugout.
Noel pinch-hit for Will Brennan and flied out to center. In the third, Fry, pinch-hitting for Kyle Manzardo, struck out. With a short bench three innings into the game, Vogt could still make some moves with his bullpen, but the offense was done for the day.
All of this would be a footnote if the Guardians’ offense hadn’t shrivled on the postseason stage. Detroit’s “Pitching Chaos” has brought it to its knees.
They haven’t scored in 20 straight innings. They’ve been shut out 3-0 in consecutive postseason games for the first time in franchise history.
No doubt the lack of offense has forced Vogt’s hand in some situations. The thing about baseball is that the harder you try to play it, the worse it gets. Former Indians manager Doc Edwards said it has to be played with “loose aggressiveness.”
Perhaps that pertains to managing as well.
