Yankees fans want Aaron Boone fired before Game 2 after disastrous ALCS start

New York Yankees fans were beyond frustrated with manager Aaron Boone after the team lost Game 1 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros.

The New York Yankees managed to overcome a 2-1 deficit in their American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians to advance to the ALCS. They faced off against a Houston Astros team that is well-rounded and has been New York’s kryptonite in the postseason since 2015. For the Yankees to have a chance against the Astros, they needed to take a game in Houston.

New York lost 4-2 in the ALCS opener on Wednesday night.

Despite the game being tied early on at 1-1, Boone’s decision to go to the bullpen backfired in the sixth inning. Clarke Schmidt got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth inning, but he surrendered back-to-back solo home runs to Yuli Gurriel and Chas McCormick to go into a 3-1 deficit.

Boone notably went to Schmidt in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the ALDS over closer Clay Holmes, and the decision backfired, leading to a Yankees loss and a 2-1 series deficit.

It certainly did not help that when Boone called upon Frankie Montas to start the top of the seventh inning, only to watch him immediately surrender a monstrous solo home run to rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena to increase New York’s deficit to 4-1.

Aaron Boone feels the wrath of Yankees fans on Twitter for disastrous ALCS Game 1

Yankees fans vented about the decision-making of Boone in Game 1.

https://twitter.com/HoodieFrazier/status/1582914303841050626?s=20

For Game 1, the Yankees released their starting lineups for the game, and he had some head-scratchers in it. He put Isiah Kiner-Falefa back at shortstop after he was benched for the final two runs of the ALDS. Matt Carpenter, who had not started in a game since August due to injury, got the start as the designated hitter.

Carpenter did not have a good first start, as he struck out four times in the game from the No. 6 spot in the batting order. Third baseman Josh Donaldson, who batted ahead of him in the order, went zero-for-three with three strikeouts. Both stranded four runners on base each.

The hits were not coming from the Yankees. It certainly did not help that Justin Verlander was on his game on Wednesday night, striking out 11 batters in six innings. Overall, the Yankees struck out 17 times in the game. As for Houston, they only struck out twice. Sarah Langs of MLB.com tweeted out that this is the largest strikeout differential in a game in postseason history.

Entering this series, it was well-known that the Yankees could not afford to make mistakes. This is an Astros teams that capitalizes on them. Boone’s decisions did come back to haunt him, and the Yankees now look to bounce back in Game 2 on Thursday to even the series.