DEJA BOONE Manager asleep at the wheel … again
MAYBE, based on the last time he partook in a Yankees-Red Sox playoff series, Aaron Boone figured he’d save his best for last? Oops! ... He did it again. The 2018 Yankees season ended by virtue of a 4-3 loss to the Red Sox in American League Division Series Game 4 Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, propelling Boston to the AL Champion- ship Series where it will take on the defending-champion Astros. The Red Sox proved themselves to be no 108-54 regular-season softies, outplaying and outlasting their rivals. The Yankees’ heavily touted home-field advantage (guilty plea here) went the way of the dodo bird and political moderates.
However, even if you’re eventempered enough to defer to the small sample sizes of October, and to acknowledge the 2018 Yankees’ accomplishment of 100 regular-season victories, there’s no getting around the startling lack of urgency Boone displayed in managing Games 3 and 4. Just as he left Luis Severino in Game 3 too long (and replaced him with the underwhelming Lance Lynn), the rookie skipper let the season slip away with veteran starting pitcher CC Sabathia while his fleet of elite relievers waited for their opportunity. The Yankees’ thrilling, two-run rally in the ninth fell just short arguably because Sabathia gave up three runs while recording only nine outs.
Given the Yankees’ heavy emphasis on analytics and Boone’s season-long embrace of them, it’s absolutely stunning that they would go down in such an oldschool fashion, letting their starting pitcher absorb so many blows rather than get
a fresh arm in there.
The 38-year-old Sabathia, who put up a 4.50 ERA in three starts against the dangerous Red Sox this season, operated on a short leash last postseason with Boone’s predecessor Joe Girardi; in his four starts, he lasted 5 ¹/3 innings, 4 ¹/3, 6 and 3 ¹/3. Against the major leagues’ best offense, with all hands on deck, the Yankees had to be on the highest alert Tuesday night.
Yet Sabathia created quite a scare in the first inning, loading the bases with two outs … and not a reliever was stirring in the home bullpen. The big lefty escaped the jam by retiring Ian Kinsler on a flyout to Brett Gardner on the left-field warning track.
After a quiet second inning, Sabathia walked Andrew Benintendi to start the third … and no one got up. Steve Pearce lined a single to center field … and no one got up. J.D. Martinez lofted a sacrifice fly to center field, scor- ing Benintendi for the game’s first run, and no one got up. Only after Xander Bogaerts tapped a comebacker to Sabathia did David Robertson start throwing off the bullpen mound. While Robertson warmed up, Kinsler ripped a double over Gardner’s head to plate Pearce, and old pal Eduardo Nunez lined a single over third baseman Neil Walker to score Kinsler for a 3-0 advantage.
While Sabathia stuck around to end the inning on a Jackie Bradley Jr. grounder to first baseman Luke Voit, the damage had been done, especially with the Yankees’ bats dormant.
“I was fine with the way CC was throwing the ball,” Boone said after the game. “He was at the two-out point. We were going to have him go through Bradley, simple as that. We just kind of knew we had our guys lined up enough that we could … especially had we got to that point, we could get through the game. I think it was a sound decision to … allow him to go through Bradley at that point.”
But why not get Sabathia out of there earlier, especially given the damage that Kinsler and Nunez did with two outs? I asked Boone if he considered taking Sabathia out before those two righties hit.
“Not seriously at that point,” Boone said. “Obviously, we had Robbie up there, but no, not at that point. We were a hitter away.”
They wound up a run away from sending the game into extra innings.
Four Yankees relievers teamed to give up just one run over the last six innings. If only they had entered earlier, maybe things would’ve turned out differently.
Boone, whose legendary walkoff homer against the Red Sox’s Tim Wakefield in 2003 ALCS Game 7 surely helped him get this managing opportunity, understands the fates of the game as well as anyone. Now he’ll have six months to absorb the lesson that didn’t take overnight from Monday to Tuesday and that will leave a dent in Boone’s freshman year.