Yankees fans want Aaron Boone fired: Why they’re right this time

Aaron Boone flew way too close to the sun in a painful Game 3 loss to the Guardians. It’s about time the Yankees find a new skipper.

If you’re a New York Yankees fan and went to bed just a bit too early last night, chances are you were confused and distraught upon waking up. The Cleveland Guardians and Oscar Gonzalez’s late-game heroics came up clutch in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Yankees in walk-off fashion.

It was so bad it snapped a 167-game streak of the Yankees securing victory when up multiple runs in the ninth inning.

While it doesn’t all fall on Aaron Boone, an easy place to look is the manager when these implosions happen. And for Boone, this just might be the last straw with Yankee fans.

Unfortunately for fans who want to see him canned, it’s unlikely. Boone just received a contract extension and appears to have the favor of GM Brian Cashman and principal owner Hal Steinbrenner.

That’s not going to stop them from calling for Boone’s head, though.

Aaron Boone is making curious managerial decisions when the wins matter most

Wandy Peralta was dealing last night. He retired the first four batters he faced. Boone extended Peralta too far, though. As was noted on the TBS broadcast, the most innings Peralta had ever thrown in a big league game was 3.0. So, why, in a postseason game, did Boone allow him to enter the bottom of the ninth inning?

The temptation was understandable. Peralta did well and looked elite, as if he could finish the game. He retired the first four batters (a perfect eighth and the first batter in the ninth) before giving up two hits in the ninth inning.

That was just the start of Boone’s mistakes. After he pulled Peralta he went to… Clarke Schmidt. With the team’s best closer — Clay Holmes — left on the bench.

Holmes must have been sore from his appearance in Game 2, right?

Nope.

Obviously, when it comes to pitching there are priorities to consider. Boone is thinking about keeping Holmes fresh for Games 4 and 5 while the rest of us are myopically focused on Game 3. That perspective is fair and explains some of why Holmes didn’t come out. You can’t gas all of your arms.

At the same time, every postseason game is the biggest game of your season thus far. And with the series tied 1-1, you would think there would be some urgency to secure the win and take a crucial series lead in a best-of-five series. A healthy Holmes does you no good for the ALCS if you don’t even make it there. Especially when this decision gave Cleveland the opportunity to take the series at home on Sunday.

It looked like the Yankees would take a 2-1 lead and give themselves great odds of advancing to the ALCS. Now, at best, an ALCS advancement will gas the team and put them on short rest to face the Astros.

The Peralta mistake was fine. But compounding that with leaving Holmes on the bench is just silly. Time and time again it feels like Boone is one of the primary blockades to the Yankees capitalizing on the talent they have.

Fans are fed up.