THE VOTERS GOT IT RIGHT. AARON BOONE SUCKS!

The American League Manager of the Year was announced on Tuesday, and to the shock of absolutely no one, Aaron Boone didn’t even come close. Cleveland Guardians rookie manager Stephen Vogt obliterated the competition, earning 27 out of 30 first-place votes. He beat out AJ Hinch of the Tigers and Matt Quatraro of the Royals with ease. And Boone? He finished FIFTH. Fifth! That’s exactly where an amateur belongs.

Let’s be clear: the Yankees won an AL-best 94 games, and Boone still wasn’t a finalist. Why? Because nobody’s fooled anymore. This guy is the managerial equivalent of an intern trying to run a Fortune 500 company. The Yankees won despite Boone, not because of him. Give most halfway competent managers the talent Boone has at his disposal—a lineup dripping with MVP candidates and a pitching staff that practically manages itself—and they’d deliver a season for the ages. Instead, Boone gave us inconsistency, baffling decisions, and a maddening inability to learn from his mistakes.

This man’s managing style is nothing short of amateur hour. Whether it’s his misuse of the bullpen (how many games has he handed away this year?) or his refusal to hold players accountable, Boone is a walking argument against letting “vibes guys” manage elite baseball teams. His over-reliance on analytics is laughable; it’s like watching someone try to drive using only their GPS while ignoring the giant potholes in the road. The result? A team that underachieves and a fanbase that’s ready to riot every time Boone waddles out of the dugout to make another head-scratching decision.

Meanwhile, Stephen Vogt, in his first year, managed to turn a scrappy Guardians team into something special with a fraction of the resources. That’s what real managing looks like. Boone? He’s like a kid playing dress-up in the Yankees’ managerial office, way over his head and out of his depth.

Here’s the best part: the voters just did what Yankees fans have been begging Hal Steinbrenner to do for years. They screamed loud and clear, “This guy is not a good manager!” Boone has finally been exposed on a national stage for what he is—a terrible leader riding on the coattails of immense talent.

The voters got it right. Boone doesn’t belong anywhere near a Manager of the Year conversation.

He belongs in a coaching seminar labeled “What Not to Do.” Yankee fans deserve better than this bafflingly bad amateur act. It’s time to get a professional in the dugout before Boone wastes another season of generational talent. Hal, are you listening yet?

BLAME BOONE, NOT HOLMES

When you are in a situation because your manager makes the decision, it's kind of hard to look at the guy who gave up the walk-off and blame him when the decisions the manager made before. Ultimately that really was the reason why the Yankees lost. It wasn't Holmes and the walk off... it was the fact that Boone's obsession is Luke Weaver.

Look, I've been weary of the Weaver lovefest for a few weeks now. I think the guy can be lights out, but I also believe that when that happens, the media, the manager becomes obsessed.  Last night was a perfect example of Aaron Boone using Luke Weaver too much.  There's a lot of guys we could have gone too, but it's my feeling that if you continually use the same guys... day in and day out, sooner or later the opponent will get to them.  Weaver is not Mariano Rivera. I know the media and Boone want everyone to believe he's on his way, but I'm here to tell you that we have some time for that.  Last night, in my opinion was a clear case of making the wrong choice and then when Clay Holmes allows the walk off, ya'll want to blame this guy instead. 

Blame Boone, Blame Luke Weaver. Hell, blame Anthony Rizzo for the error, but in the end, you can't blame Clay Holmes.

Fansided writes:

"...on Thursday, Weaver struggled. While he did get out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth inning, the ninth inning was a whole other story. Weaver watched Ramirez reach on a fielding error by Anthony Rizzo, but forced Josh Naylor to ground into a double play. Just one more out, and the Yankees would take a 3-0 series lead. But Weaver caved.

Weaver surrendered a hard-hit double off the center field wall. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt called upon Jhonkensy Noel to pinch hit for Daniel Schneemann. Weaver ended up surrendering a pitch that Noel sent careening deep into the left field stands to tie the game up 5-5.

Weaver had a bad outing at the worst possible time."

To me, it's a clear case of inexperience on all counts... for Weaver who is now trotted out there even when we don't need him (like Game 2) and yesterday.  And you gotta look at Boone and suggest this guy, while he's been making the right choices as of late, made a horrible decision leading to the loss last night. Inexperience. 

Now Holmes is just happy to be there and play.  He's been called on, he's been doing whatever is asked of him and he's been terrific in that role, and he deserves a ton of credit, but last night he was "set up", plain and simple.  He was in a tough spot last night, but a spot he inherited.  

However we want to interpret this loss, there's one thing that's the most important.  The Yankees have to come back tonight and win.  Whatever happened is over.  Yanks gotta turn it around today. 

Let me end this by stating that I'm a Weaver guy. I love stories like this. I just don't get wrapped up in it too early with too much on the line.   Wheeling Weaver out there wasn't Boone strategizing, it was him taking the easy way out and to be honest, it was the first bad decision he's made all post season.  And so now, in his thirst and desperation he will most likely get the best of him and Boone will panic and do something ridiculous like put Weaver out there in a tough spot tonight "to redeem himself" and "build his confidence" when what Boone should really be doing is trying to win the game.   Team first Boone, not friend first... you're not their therapist.

Let's hope the Yanks can turn this around and didn't wake up the Indians.  We don't need that.  What we need is to win, to go the World Series and compete against the Dodgers.  That's what we want.

Bad loss, but today's a new day!

Go Yanks!

"I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER"

The race for the AL East Division crown is in full throttle and the Yankees are hanging by a thread as we march toward the finish. Saturday afternoon's matinee was a typical, tight, playoff-race September game. How would Ivan Nova hold up in his return to the rotation? Could the Yankees score any runs, or at least enough runs to win a game? Unanswered questions and playoff style drama for this mid-September match-up had fans on edge. One this was sure though, the Yankees are getting healthy again. With health comes confidence. With wins comes momentum...and Ivan Nova proved he's back, just at the right time. I love it when a plan comes together.

Desmond Jennings led off the game with a single to center and undoubtedly pulse rates in Yankee Stadium quickened. Nova managed to strike out Ben Zobrist and induce a ground ball double play from the always dangerous Evan Longoria. That set the tone for the six innings of work that Nova would complete. Ivan managed to record eight strikeouts in his outing and yielded four hits, two walks, and two runs -- first question answered.

The Yankees reverted to form offensively with back-to-back HRs in the second inning. It was the eleventh time the Yankees had used back-to-back HRs to produce runs in 2012. Raul Ibanez walked to start the inning and Curtis Granderson followed with a two-run HR off Rays' starter James Shields. It was a big blow in a difficult situation. Grandy was 6 for 56 versus Shields before that at bat. Eduardo Nunez followed with a solo-shot HR and the Yankees led 3-0 -- second question partially answered.

In the fifth inning, the Yankees produced a huge run. Joe Girardi had finally relented and moved Ichiro Suzuki into the lead-off spot for this game. In the fifth, the move paid dividends. Suzuki singled to center with two outs and managed to steal second during the Derek Jeter at bat that followed. Jeter. the Yankees' best and most reliable hitter, came through yet again, this time with a runner in scoring position ahead of him! It would prove to be an important run for New York. As happy as New York fans were with the fourth run of the day, some had to be wondering how many of the earlier one-run losses could have been salvaged with Ichiro hitting ahead of the Yankees best hitter since his arrival from Seattle.

The fourth run was critical because the Yankee bullpen made a mess of things in the seventh. Three Yankee pitchers (Nova, Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain) yielded two runs on three hits, and Rays' manager Joe Maddon spun his magic by using four pinch-hitters and a pinch-runner to help produce those results and cut the Yankee lead to 4-3.

With the game still very much in doubt, David Robertson pitched a perfect eighth, and the Yankees produced a big insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a Robinson Cano double to center and an Alex Rodriguez clutch RBI-single to center.

The Yankees seemed to slightly over-manage the ninth as Rafael Soriano pitched around Stephen Vogt, an 0 for 17 pinch-hitter, following a mound visit by Larry Rothschild. That move put the tying run on base and brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the person of Elliot Johnson. Soriano probably upped his contract renegotiation asking-price by striking out Johnson to record his 39th save, preserve Nova's 12 win of the season, and close a very important pennant race victory for the Yankee team!

Saturday's happy final: New York 5 Tampa Bay 3

--Frank Gentry, BYB Writer

Twitter: @yankeefrank23

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