Probably everyone who watched the old television series that ran from 1952-58 or watched a movie in theaters remembers what a bummer it was when discovering Superman couldn’t really fly. The Guardians are down two games to one to the Tigers in a best-of-five ALDS because, among other reasons, their Superman isn’t flying in the playoffs. Jose Ramirez was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Game 2 on Oct. 7 in the 3-0 loss to the Tigers. He was 0-for-3 and was walked once intentionally in Game 3 on Oct. 9 at Comerica Park in Detroit — also a 3-0 loss. Ramirez hit a lazy fly to center field in the top of the fifth inning with two men on base when the Detroit lead was 2-0. Ramirez hit 39 home runs and drove in 118 runs in the regular season. He was part of the five-run first inning in Game 1 of the series with an RBI double down the third-base line, but his bat has been quiet since then. Ramirez has played in 35 postseason games with the Indians/Guardians. He is hitting .233 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 133 at-bats over nine separate series spanning 2016-2024. Ramirez was not the only Guardians hitter who didn’t come through in Game 3. The Guardians had two runners on base four times in the first seven innings and didn’t score. A leaping catch by Tigers third baseman Matt Vierling of a line drive off the bat of David Fry with Brayan Rocchio on second and Steven Kwan on first with two out ended the seventh, which meant Ramirez would lead off the eighth. The situation could not have worked better for the Tigers — Ramirez at the plate with the bases empty, Ramirez lined out to right, Josh Naylor flied out to center and Lance Thomas, whose three-run homer in the first inning of Game 1 seems a month ago, struck out. Ramirez faced a different Tigers pitcher in each of his four plate appearances. That was part of the strategy of Detroit manager A.J. Hinch. “He’s got my respect on so many levels,” Hinch told reporters in his postgame news conference. “Part of the way our roster is built and the reason we’re maximizing strengths is we can do a lot of different things to hitters. “It’s not easy to face four different guys, especially since I took one at-bat away from Ramirez (with the intentional walk). But you need the guys to do it, to throw strikes and pound the strike zone and go right after guys and get big outs, and we did all of that.” To punctuate the way the Detroit pitching dominated Game 3, Tyler Holton, whom the Guardians bludgeoned in the five-run first inning in Game 1, put down the Guardians in order in the top of the ninth on two grounds outs and a strikeout of Austin Hedges on three pitches. The Guardians were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. They left eight runners stranded. They have gone scoreless in 21 straight innings and scored runs in only two of 26 innings in the series. Six different Detroit pitchers handcuffed the Guardians in Game 3. The Guards hit safely six times and walked twice, but never strung enough hits together to push a run across the plate. “Nothing that happened today caught us off guard,” manager Stephen Vogt told reporters in his postgame news conference. “We were prepared for all of it. We took our shots when we had the opportunity to put some runs up, placed some bets and then just didn’t come through.” So now Vogt has put playoff survival in the right hand of Game 1 starter Tanner Bibee. Vogt announced before Game 3 that Bibee would start Game 4 on Oct. 10 in Detroit. “I think there will be a lot less nerves for sure, but I think at this point I’m just trying to go out there and help win a ballgame,” Bibee told reporters during a pregame news conference in Detroit. “Don’t really care how I do it, don’t really care how we do it. Just trying to go out there and win. That’s kind of the whole point of this year.” Bibee said after his Game 1 start said “It felt like I had a lead block in my stomach for three days” because he was nervous about making his first playoff start in just his second Major League season. Bibee did not pitch like he was nervous. He tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowed four hits, walked two batters and struck out six. Guardians at Tigers What: ALDS, Game 4; Tigers lead series, 2-1 When: 6:08 p.m., Oct. 10 Where: Comerica Park, Detroit Pitchers: Guardians — Tanner Bibee, 0-0, 0.00 ERA in playoffs); Tigers — TBA TV: TNT Radio: WTAM AM-1100, WMMS-FM 100.7