Most people attribute the phrase "Aaron Freaking Boone" to be something that only Boston Red Sox fans mutter.
It's a saying that came into existence because of the dramatic Game 7 game-winning home run Boone hit while playing for the Yankees to beat Boston in the American League Championship Series a few moons ago. And while that's how the phrase originated, it's a safe bet - see what I did there? - that it has been shouted more by sports bettors, and ironically, Yankees fans than it has ever rolled off the tongue of even the angriest New Englanders.
Sometimes with Boone and his Yankees it seems as though no bet is safe, and that certainly was the case last night. Many people overlook managers and coaches when handicapping games, and that's a big mistake. A team with a huge talent advantage can be crippled by a manager who can't run his bullpen and a coach who can't think on the fly during high-leverage situations.
Aaron Boone is one of those managers, and while it's easy to say that we handicapped a game right but just got a bad deal from the sports gods, sometimes we need to take a look and examine the wisdom of betting on certain managers or coaches in important games.
Every game is an important game for the Yankees right now as they battle Baltimore for first place in the AL East. And after last night's debacle - a 7-4 loss to Texas in a game they led 4-1 in the eighth inning - they find themselves a half game behind the Orioles.
While we think Boone definitely is in the bottom half of the league when it comes to ranking MLB managers, last night was both a game that our model was correct to recommend and one that he absolutely blew.
We even wrote here yesterday that the starting patching matchup between Carols Rondon and Andrew Heaney should be even (it was) and that New York should have had the advantage in the late innings for two reasons: First, the Rangers actually have a weaker bullpen, and there was no way that Boone possibly could use "All-Star" closer Clay Holmes a night after he threw 19 pitches and nearly turned a big lead into a horrific loss.
Just as we scripted it, the Yankees trailed, 1-0, when Heaney was removed by manager Bruce Bochy in the sixth inning. Reliever Jose LeClerc strolled to the mound and proceeded allow 2 runs over 1.1 innings, followed by Andrew Chafin and Grant Anderson, who surrendered 2 runs over the next 1.2 innings.
As we predicted, New York led, 4-1, heading into the eighth. This is where you could sense that things were about to get dicey, however.
Tommy Kahnle and Jake Cousins gave two of the runs back, and lefty sidewinder Tim Hill was summoned from the bullpen. Hill came in with the bases loaded and gave up a fly ball to fairly deep center off the bat of Nathaniel Lowe. A simple play, right? Not the way Aaron Judge played it.
Judge turned the wrong way initially and walked in a complete circle before making the catch, Then he inexplicably threw the ball to third base as Marcus Semien tagged up and scored from third. If Judge just tossed the ball to second, one runner would have advanced to third base and the other would have stayed at first. Instead, he threw to the wrong base, allowing Josh Jung to basically stroll to second.
After that blunder, a single likely would have given Texas the lead instead of only allowing the Rangers to tie. Hill then threw two balls that weren't close but were called strikes to pinch-hitter Jonah Heim, who flailed at the third low pitch to strike out and end the threat. Heim looked like he wanted to use his hat to hammer the umpire into the dirt as he stormed back to the dugout.
Although the Yankees had escaped, the ridiculous play by Judge and the fact that Hill was completely bailed out by the plate ump didn't breed a lot of confidence heading into the ninth inning. Mental mistakes like the one Judge made often cost MLB teams games and are simply plays that no one can handicap accurately. This time, we dodged a bullet - for a few fleeting moments at least.
The one thing working in our favor entering the ninth was that there was no chance Boone possibly would turn to Holmes again to close out the game. Or would he?
After the Yankees went quietly in the top of the ninth, that's exactly who emerged from the New York bullpen. At that point, if you were a bettor or a Yankee fan you just knew.
Holmes managed to induce a weak grounder to second to start the inning, but that was the lone positive for the inning. Besides that strike, he was credited with 12 strikes out of the 25 pitches he threw. At least five or six of those strikes were obvious balls that were gifted to him as strikes by Mr. Shady behind the plate. That means he threw about seven of his 25 pitches over the plate.
Of course, two walks and a hit later, the bases were loaded. And after running the count to 3-2 vs. Wyatt Langford, Holmes finally found the zone for real and hung a breaking ball that was hit so high, hard and far that it still might be orbiting the planet.
You can't make it up.
Aaron Boone managed to screw up a game that he shouldn't have even had a chance to lose. His hands should have been tied. No manager in his right mind brings Holmes, the league leader in blown saves, back on back-to-back nights in that situation.
No one except Aaron Freaking Boone that is.
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