Guardians fans explain why they stopped watching before Jhonkensy Noel launched a 404-foot miracle missile in ALCS Game 3 vs Yankees

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Virgil Houser will be 70 in January. Baseball is his passion, but disappointment is something he can no longer bear to deal with. So he tries to minimize it any chance he gets.

Virgil was watching on television as the Guardians faced the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. When Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back home runs against Emmanuel Clase in the eighth inning , Virgil turned off his TV and went to bed.

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Life is full of disappointment, and the Gustavus, Ohio resident who says he never leaves a game early — even spring training games he attends with his wife — was resigned to disappointment once again.

But Houser received a text around 3 a.m. from his nephew. "What a game!" it read.

He looked up the box score and immediately went to Youtube where he watched Jhonkensy Noel launch a game-tying home run , and David Fry win it with a walk-off, two-run blast in extra innings .

"The crowd was like all the home runs in the series — just great," Houser said in a text message to cleveland.com.

It reminded him of the best and loudest home run celebration in a game he attended back in July of 1995. Albert Bell hit a game winning home run off Lee Smith in the ninth inning. At the time, Smith was one of the premiere closers in baseball.

"The car horns blew the whole time until we got on route 90," Houser recalled. "Forty-three thousand fans make a lot of noise. I know you remember that game. The best and loudest."

The loudest until Thursday night, when Noel and Fry combined to wake up all of Northeast Ohio. All except those who turned out the lights early to avoid a disappointment that never materialized.

Guardians fans explain early departures Cleveland.com's Guardians Subtext subscribers were among some of the fans who either bolted from the park early to avoid traffic after Judge and Stanton homered, or turned off their TVs like Virgil because they could no longer bear the suffering.

Below are a few of the responses we gathered from them after an amazing night at the ballpark.

Ok only if you don't use names, my husband and I did! We are dying and swearing each other to secrecy to say we stayed. Thankfully we live in (a nearby neighborhood of Cleveland that shall go unnamed here) and saw Fry's walk-off.

The two Guardians fans near me who kind of gave up (probably partially because our section was oozing with Yankee fans) were within range and came back to their seats after the first home run. I didn't say anything to them, but they were clearly happy to be back. We were drowning in Yankees fans all night. There were two folks from Buffalo and then an older guy with someone between us in the first row. The couple had left several times, maybe because of the fans. People got really upset or happy after the two Yanks' homers and I almost got caught in a fight because the Cleveland fans in the next section were so fed up with the fans in my section. I was fed up with them too but it was not worth getting into it. The Buffalo guy was yelling at two Cleveland fans that it was "okay to be losers." I could have shoved him. We were all so excited when Fry hit the home run. So many high fives and a lot of joy the Yankees fans were finally quiet.

I had to run out to the drug store, so I caught the Big Christmas HR on the radio with my man Tom Hamilton. Then I was back home for the 10th inning and of course I watched the David Fry heroics on TV. It was pretty epic and classic Hammy but the Lane Thomas at-bat was really the catalyst as he was down 0-2 before working the count full and delivering the two-out double. Hammy actually seemed surprised when Noel came out on deck during the Thomas at-bat considering his 1 for 16 postseason and homerless drought.

I didn't leave, but I did go from section 554 to section 111 because people left. Then enjoyed the after party at the Thirty Parrot What a night!!!

No, never again! I had my two sons with me last night, and we had to leave early when we played the Rays in 2022 and missed the Gonzalez HR. My youngest had a flag football playoff game that day. My sons still bring that up!

I turned TV off and missed Noel's shot. When I learned it got tied up my jaw dropped, I turned it back on and watched the remainder of the game. Has to be top 5 for me!

I was watching the game with my wife in a bar and my hometown and we left when it was 5-3. When we get home, I just got to see Noel's home run in my house. My reaction was jumping around my living room.

I watched it on TV. I definitely saw a lot of people heading for the exits after the double play in the ninth. I don't blame them. Wonder how far they got, or if they turned back when Lane Thomas hit the double?

Since I'm in South Carolina, I couldn't walk out of the ballpark but I did walk away from the TV in the bottom of the ninth after the second out. But there was one man on base, so I got a cup of coffee and said well maybe. Then Big Christmas came up and the rest is history!!!! Then in the 10th inning, I said again "could it possibly be ... can David really do it?" And then he did!!!!

I turned off the TV when we were down to one out in the ninth. Thank goodness my wife — who is no baseball fan — mentioned almost in passing "game's tied". What! Got to watch the best defensive play, plus the dinger by Fry.

What a game! I'm brave enough to admit that I had little faith they could come back against the juggernaut Yankees. But learned a wonderful lesson from this bunch of relentless warriors!