Aaron Boone’s job as New York Yankees manager has a lot of tough responsibilities, but none tougher than defending his team after a day like Saturday.
Seeking to avoid a third straight loss to the archrival Boston Red Sox, the Yankees were embarrassed in front of their home crowd. By the end of the 12-1 drubbing, the only folks left in their seats were giddy Red Sox fans happy to rub salt in their enemies’ wounds.
Boston has now won eight games in a row against New York for the first time since 2009, and they’ve done it by forcing the Yankees to beat themselves. Errors, sloppy baserunning and mental lapses — it’s all been tough on the eyes.
Having said all that, the Yankees would still be in the playoffs if they started next week. Their issues against other teams with winning records are gaining traction, though, particularly the Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, against whom they’re a combined 4-15.
So when Boone was asked if he felt his team was “running out of time” to right the ship against quality competition, he gave the only answer he could but one that demonstrated just how lost the Yankees are right now.
“We’re not running out of time, but if we don’t do better, then it’s going to fizzle out and we’re not going to get where we want to be,” Boone said, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
In fairness, Boone couldn’t express a lack of confidence in his team in any way if he wanted them to eventually get back on track. But the idea that the Yankees aren’t running low on time is laughable — of course they are.
There are only 33 games left on the Yankees’ schedule, and just 13 of them are against teams with records better than .500. You could look at that two ways: Glass half full, the Yankees are likely to hold onto their playoff spot, or glass half empty, the Yankees barely have any opportunities to measure themselves against likely playoff opponents.
There are already plenty of ugly words being said about this Yankees team, but if they get swept at home by the Red Sox on Sunday night, the fan base might go nuclear.
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