THIS SHOULD BE THE YANKEES ALCS STRATEGY!

We all know that games can be won or lost based on a manager's decision. The players have to do their part of course, but strategy is important and that falls on Aaron Boone. The Yankees are in a tough spot right now. The Yankees are down two games to one, and Boone needs to make some adjustments to change the momentum here.

It's easy to sit behind a computer screen and talk about what's wrong, we've already seen that. We need solutions, not just pointing out what went wrong. So that being said, here's what I would do:

1. Give Austin Romine a shot

As much as we love Gary Sanchez's bat, its not working right now. He's got a power outage. He's pressing too hard at the plate and he just looks lost. He has only three hits since returning at the end of the regular season from his groin injury. I don't think permanently benching Sanchez is the answer here because I still believe in Sanchez when he is healthy and productive but that's not happening right now. Maybe a breather for Game 4 will help Sanchez regroup and Romine calls a good game from behind the plate. Maybe that will help our pitchers and keep Houston off balance a little. It certainly couldn't hurt.

2. Bench Adam Ottavino, utilize Chad Green!

I think Green was pulled way too early the other night. He was on point and the Astros were off balance. He had no signs of struggle at all but he only faced six batters and threw 21 of 26 pitches for strikes. Ottavino has been so important to the Yankees this season, but the more looks a hitter gets at a pitcher the better advantage the hitter has. Houston has seen Ottavino plenty of times between the regular season and now in EVERY GAME of the postseason. Houston knows what to expect. Ottavino has faced 18 batters and 10 of them have reached base. He has given up six hits and three runs in just 2 1/3 innings.  The guy who once said "I would strike Babe Ruth out every time" can't seem to strike out his opponents just one time. He needs a breather, and even though Boone sounds like he will continue to use Ottavino in high leverage spots it's not to the Yankees advantage anymore.

3. Put the right bats in the right place! 

The heart of the order needs to be tweaked. I like spreading the left-handed bats out in the lineup but Tuesday's lineup made no sense. No offense to Brett Gardner but, he shouldn't be batting third and protecting Aaron Judge in the #2 slot. The guy that SHOULD be protecting Judge is Gleyber Torres and hopefully Edwin Encarnacion wakes up offensively and gets some better pitches to hit if he continues to hit fourth.

4. Push EVERYONE

This isn't just for Boone to fix, it's a team weakness but still important. I think Boone can be too soft at times. He gave the bullpen some extra rest during the end of the regular season to get them ready for extra work in the postseason. That extra work is here, and the bullpen is already feeling it. The Yankees COULD have four games in a row now thanks to yesterday's postponed game. The Astros already got a good look at our bullpen. It's time for the starters to step up and do their jobs! The bullpen has pitched more innings than the starters have. In fact, Masahiro Tanaka is the ONLY Yankee pitcher to pitch more than five innings in the postseason since 2012 and that's just not acceptable. Our starters need to set the tone and get deep into games. We already know Tanaka can do it, but now we need that extra push from both James Paxton AND Luis Severino who really struggled on Tuesday.

The Yankees have their work cut out for them and it won't be easy....but it is possible with the right strategy and execution. Let's get a win and get back on track today!

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj