LAST NIGHT WAS PROOF THAT CLUELESS BOONE CAN'T LEAD THE YANKEES

I will never understand how Aaron Boone makes game time decisions.  He's either looking at a binder full of metrics that really don't matter, or he's throwing guys bones because he feels bad.  Either way, it's the most pathetic display ever. I have said it once and I will say it again... when times are tough, when hard decisions need to be made, he doesn't know how to make them. He's not a confident manager, he is a manager that plays the role of acting confident.  Yelling at umpires in front of a team may rile up a fan base, but that gets old when the Yankees continuously lose... and that's where we are right now.

Last night against the Rangers was a disappointment and it's all Boone's fault. Now I hate recaps, you all know this, but I need to point out why we lost.

For me, the biggest flop was his pinch-hit decision.  You're in the 10th inning, DJ LeMahieu is at second base and McKinney is supposed to come to the plate. McKinney has been hot as hell these days, literally doing everything we could ask for of him.  But hold on, what's this? He is pinch hit for the worst hitter in the league right now, Josh Donaldson.  

At that point the Yankee world was outraged and should have been. To be honest, I don't even think Josh Donaldson thought he could hit a baseball in that spot let alone a beachball. The guy is lost at the plate, and everyone knew it... except for Aaron Boone. Now this knucklehead can sit there and say, "Well I knew Donaldson was struggling and I wanted to get him going", but the truth is you don't do that then. You can't feel bad for struggling players and throw them bones in a must-win situation. What Donaldson did next was nothing, literally taking the breath away from the Yankees.  As Luke Baquero of Fansided wrote:

"This season, McKinney is 3-5 with an RBI single vs left-handed pitchers.... McKinney has been great in his run with the Yankees. Slashing .318/.348./.636 with a .984 OPS, and over 160 wRC+ is way too valuable to be pinch hit for in a situation for an ice-cold Donaldson. "

The other bad move that Boone made was the relief situation in the top of the tenth inning.  Boone chose Michael King instead of Ron Marinaccio. I know it's a guessing game at this point for many, but you have to review 2 ways, statistics and the eye test.  The gut reaction alone in a must-win game would have been Marinaccio if the decision was made by any other manager on the planet. But not Boone. 

The New York Post writes: "It was Rangers cleanup man Adolis Garcia who blasted Yankees reliever Michael King’s first pitch of the 10th inning into the left field bleachers to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead and eventual victory at Yankee Stadium."

The post game was the worst. Boone just can't take responsiblity and blame for making bad decisions. He just doesn't have a grasp on anything when it comes to failure. Here's the thing, if a team is losing this bad, it usually means leadership isn't leading.  Now you can sit there and suggest that we are waiting it out until Aaron Judge comes back, but 1 man does not make a team.  Boone needs to step up.  

The classiest move of the night goes to IKF. This guy made a costly error in the 4th. Was the loss his fault though? No. Why? Cause it happened in the 4th.  The loss happened because of Boone's bad decisions in the 10th. IKF took the high road claiming he was responsible for the loss, but he wasn't.

.  

IKF gets kudos from me.

Look, there is no way the Yankees can continue at this rate.  They are not supported by their manager who makes bonehead decisions, they are clearly going through the motions and have no true leadership like the days of Jorge Posada or Paul O'Neill.  They're lost.  

Hal Steinbrenner needs to stop being confused on why the fan base is mad and have a hard look at who he brought in to make a mess of this team. This Boone experiment needs to be over already.