Boone searches hard for ways to lose
OF COURSE I saw it. It was hard to miss. Yankees manager Aaron Boone again played bullpen roulette until he landed on a reliever to blow the game. He does so every chance he gets, thus, until further notice, he’ll do so again and again.
But he’s no different from most MLB managers who work off computer spreadsheets loaded with analytic fantasy scripts. The actual game? Ignore it. Don’t believe your lying eyes!
Thursday in Boston, the Yankees had the Red Sox beaten until Boone removed reliever Luis Cessa — for no good reason.
With the Yankees up, 3-1, in the eighth, Cessa entered and made all-gone, 1, 2, 3, on just five pitches. Perfect. And with the DH, no worries about pinchhitting for the pitcher.
But Boone went to designated closer — don’t leave home without one! — Chad Green in the ninth. Soon the Yankees were 5-4 losers in 10.
But new-standard, mind-throttling senselessness remains the specialty of all the houses. In the fourth, one could see why Brett Gardner is batting .191. He had a 2-0 count against starterwithout-portfolio Tanner Houck, righty pitcher versus lefty batter, thus Gardner loaded up to swing for Uranus and beyond.
The next pitch was so far inside it hit Gardner — but not before he swung at it!
In the words of Maynard G. Krebs (the G. stood for Walter): “What an age we live in!”
Last week, during Mets-Pirates on SNY, Keith Hernandez spoke of appearing on “Kiner’s Korner” and how Ralph Kiner would slip his guests a $100 bill.
I always thought it was $50, but one night at Shea, as a kid reporter in 1978, I was taught an early lesson in “follow the money.”
The Pirates’ Bert Blyleven had just beaten the
Mets, 1-0, when he was headed back toward the field to do the postgame radio show back to Pittsburgh. His catcher, Ed Ott, stopped him to tell him they wanted him on Kiner’s show.
Blyleven shrugged and was about to continue back toward the field, when Ott added, “They pay 50 bucks.”
Blyleven did a fast 180 and headed for Kiner’s Korner.
It’s not just Boone: Tuesday, in the Dodgers’ 8-6 win over the Giants, three relievers who totaled one hit allowed in four innings were replaced.
Monday, Angels manager Joe Maddon, who tried to lose the 2016 World Series for the Cubs with absurd pitching changes, removed Shohei Ohtani, placing him in the outfield after he had pitched six scoreless innings. The Angels then lost to the Athletics, 4-1.
Mets radio man Wayne “Promo Code: Wayne” Randazzo is another who has sold his name, position and reputation to a sports gambling site. Seems he’d like everyone within the sound of his voice to have at least one bet on the game he’s calling.