Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave Luis Severino a much longer leash then he should have on Monday night, but what took him so long to pull the plug?
Here we are, the time is 9:30 PM in the bottom of the fourth inning of Game Four of the ALDS, and the Yankees trail 10-0. If you follow me on twitter, I’m the 32-year-old guy kicking and screaming like a one-year-old infant and it is not because of the score, but because I can not believe the managing (or lack thereof) by Aaron Boone.
If it were up to me (unfortunately it was not), Luis Severino would have been pulled in the third inning when everything he was throwing was belt or letter high.
Time to get someone loose. Sevy can’t locate the ball down.
— ᴍᴘ (@MarkAPier) October 9, 2018
To no avail, Boone lets Sevy stay on the hill while he somehow manages to get out of the inning, down just 3-0. We all exhale and start to think about how we are going to record the next 18 outs with our league-best bullpen, except for Aaron Boone.
Sevy comes out to pitch the fourth and I am baffled. I get it together as I realize that Boone will pull him if just one man reaches base. Boone just wants to toy with the possibility of him having a quick inning, right? Wrong.
Holt, Single. Sevy stays in.
PULL HIM.
— ᴍᴘ (@MarkAPier) October 9, 2018
Vazquez, Single. Sevy stays in.
PULL HIM
— ᴍᴘ (@MarkAPier) October 9, 2018
Bradley Jr, Walk. Sevy gets pulled.
Mind blown.
Aaron Boone goes to Lance Lynn with the bases juiced and no outs. The same Lance Lynn that Boone didn’t trust coming in for a clean inning to start the fourth. But hell, he trusts him to get out of a bases loaded, no-out jam, why not?
A blink of an eye later, all of the runners Sevy let on base cross home plate, and then some. No one can blame Lance Lynn for this, but we can blame Aaron Boone for setting him up for absolute failure.
What could you have possibly seen in that third inning to think it was worth bringing Sevy out to pitch the 4th?
— ᴍᴘ (@MarkAPier) October 9, 2018
Fucking disaster. How does Severino start that inning? What did Boone see in the first 3 to give him another?
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) October 9, 2018
Why would Aaron Boone start Sevy to start the 4th inning? I’ll wait for a reasonable answer. I’m pissed and you should be, too. Absolute zero fucking sense.
— #BeatBoston (@itsevandaniel) October 9, 2018
I don’t get:
1. Why Boone was slow to get the bullpen going in the third.
2. Why Severino was allowed to continue pitching the 4th once he allowed a hit.
3. Why Lance Lynn entered with the bases loaded instead of Chad Green, who ended up pitching in the inning anyway.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) October 9, 2018
Sure, we were getting outplayed after three innings, but your job as a manager at that moment is to keep it a three-run game.
This was bad, very bad. I would say I can’t wait to hear Aaron Boone’s reasoning after this disaster ends, but there is no need to listen to whatever he has to say, even if he owns up to making the wrong decision.
Mr. Boone, tonight you chose to take away the two-strengths this team has had all season.
A bullpen that was designed for that very moment, and a lineup that is capable of coming back from a 3-0 deficit, not a 10-0 deficit. You are a rookie manager and you most certainly looked like it tonight.
Boone was my biggest concern entering the postseason after starting pitching. It’s going to be tough to win if your manager can’t make proper decisions in playoff baseball.
— Yankeesource (@YankeeSource) October 9, 2018
Now the real question: will this team rally around your mistake as they did for Joe Girardi in last years ALDS?
I doubt it.