Cleveland Indians refine their lineup for third ALDS game

Indian manager Terry Francona has found a simple way to summarize the precarious state of his team in October.

And he channeled Yogi Berra to do it.

"As long as we're still breathing, we're still breathing," Francona said before Monday's third game against the Houston Astros. "We simply do not have a lot of room for error."

With his club down 2-0 and only 1,100 (6 vs. 60) so far in the series and facing southpaw Dallas Keuchel in Game 3, Francona has changed his lineup starting with right-handed hitters Yandy Diaz at designated hitter and Brandon. Guyer in the right field. In addition, Edwin Encarnacion was replaced by DH and played the first goal, replacing left-handed Yonder Alonso.

The Indians were dominated in Matches 1 and 2 by Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, Astros Firefighters. Cleveland had some success against Keuchel, beating him on May 19 in Houston. The Indians scored three points in the first run and chased Keuchel after five innings.

In his second game against Cleveland on May 25, he allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch made two changes, starting Brian McCann behind the plate and using Tony Kemp as DH, in place of Tyler White, who played that role in the first two games.

Francona knows everything about how to overcome significant obstacles in October.

In 2004, his Boston Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit to defeat the New York Yankees at ALCS and finally win their first World Series title since 1918. Last season, the Indians led the ALDS 2-0 before the defeat of the Yankees. win the series.

Francona said that there was no secret recipe for a return.

"You can philosophize about what you want," he said. "There are different ways of looking at things, we do not want to go home, so for that to happen, we have to win now, OK, the best thing to do is channel our energy to find the way to win today.

"And, from my point of view, part of that is to eliminate the noise that comes from falling 0-2.This is part of it.Everyone has a reason and this and that.You must try to Eliminate and know, be confident in what you do, "Hey, that's what puts our team in the best position," and stay with it. "