SON ALWAYS RISES
With help from father, Boone shrugs off rips
Already having to deal with several injuries. Roster changes on the fly. A questionable late-game decision backfiring. This past weekend in Toronto was Aaron Boone’s baptism by fire in his new profession.
“Welcome to managing,” ex-skipper Bob Boone told his son over the phone on Sunday night.
Aaron Boone will manage his first game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday — his first time wearing the home uniform in the Bronx since he had his forever moment in the 2003 postseason.
“I’m looking forward to putting the pinstripes on and going out there with this team,” Aaron Boone said after the Yankees were snowed out of Monday’s home-opener with the Rays.
Aaron Boone faced his first real criticism after David Robertson surrendered a two-out grand slam to Justin Smoak in the eighth inning of a 7-4 loss to the Blue Jays on Sunday.
Aaron Boone and Larry Rothschild consulted with D-Rob before intentionally walking Josh Donaldson, who has been dealing with a shoulder injury, to face Smoak, who had belted a two-run homer off Tommy Kahnle in his previous at-bat.
History based on a small sample-size supported the decision: Smoak had been 0-for5 with four strikeouts against Robertson, while Donaldson had been 3-for-8 with two homers. And those numbers may have been what exmanager Joe “The Binder” Girardi would have used to reach the same conclusion.
But there was also the consideration of loading the bases, leaving Robertson no margin for error. Plus, Smoak wound up hitting .467 with two homers and eight RBI during the four-game series, compared with .154 with no homers and no RBI for Donaldson.
Smoak ultimately fouled off three tough curveballs before prevailing against D-Rob’s fastball, culminating a nine-pitch battle.
“I guess I don’t deal with the second-guessing,” Aaron Boone said. “I don’t pay attention to it. We’re prepared, my coaches and I are. We feel good about the decisions we make. We review things. Through the first four games I feel really good about the decisions that we’ve had to make.”
Brian Cashman made a managerial change because he wanted someone who could better communicate with his players. That’s what Aaron Boone did, making a decision and then communicating with his veteran reliever to make sure Robertson was good with it. He was. The result was bad. The process seemed as desired.
“They got us,” Aaron Boone said. “One more pitch and we’re out of that thing and we get out of there in a little better shape.
“I’m not a big believer in throwing extra guys on base, but there are important times in a game where you have a decision to make. There’s a lot of debate on that decision yesterday I understand, but I felt like we made the best decision,” Boone said. “Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, and that’s baseball.”
His father certainly knows that, having sat in the hot seat before in Kansas City and Cincinnati.
“Man, he was giving me so much advice last night on my drive home from the airport,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s here. I’m looking forward to seeing him today. It’ll be cool to hang out here this afternoon before our ‘Welcome Back Dinner’ tonight.”
Aaron Boone said Bob Boone “isn’t so much a critic.” “He’s opinionated,” Aaron Boone said. “And he has a lot of thoughts, he’s seen a lot in this game, so he shares with me how he’d do things. It’s just a lot of thoughts, a lot of opinions, and then very supportive, too.”
Aaron Boone has quickly gotten off to an up-and-down start in his first year as manager. Given who he replaced and how talented his team is, the pressure and expectations aren’t going anywhere.
But at least in the early-going, he has handled himself with professionalism. As far as whether he can be successful, a larger sample size is needed.
“It really does matter to me at the end of the day, that’s for sure. I’ve loved it,” Aaron Boone said. “We’ve had some different challenges pop up in the first few days. I feel like we’re equipped to handle them well. I feel really good about where we are going forward.”
Plus, Aaron Boone has his ex-manager dad in his corner, which helps.