Aaron Boone has been New York Yankees fans' favorite punching bag throughout his tenure as the organization's manager. Some of the criticism that has come his way has been warranted, but some of it has been Yankees fans simply needing someone to blame for the team coming up short.
Boone has often drawn criticism over the years with lineup decisions he makes. His lineup decisions to start this season have been unorthodox, to say the least, but the results cannot be ignored.
The Yankees hit a pair of home runs and defeated the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day. They've followed that up with a day to remember in their second game of the year. The Yankees performing as they have should certainly quiet down the Boone critics (at least for now).
FanSided has MLB Opening Day covered — from the players who dominate the day, the fans who live for it and the small details that make it special. Click here for more Opening Day stories around the league’s clubhouses and fan bases.
Aaron Boone's lineup decisions could not have aged better for the Yankees
New York's season began with Austin Wells, the team's catcher, leading off. Yankees fans wondered why Wells, a catcher with limited base running ability was Boone's choice to hit in front of Aaron Judge, but he quickly silenced the doubters by hitting the third pitch he saw in the Yankees' first at-bat of the season over the right field wall.
There was reason to question why Anthony Volpe, a hitter with a .661 OPS over two full seasons was hitting ahead of Ben Rice, a DH who had a torrid spring training. Volpe responded by hitting a home run in his first at-bat.
Wells and Volpe wound up leading the Yankees to a 4-2 Opening Day win, and as it turned out, the best was yet to come.
In their second game of the season, Boone made a ridiculous amount of changes to the team's lineup. On one hand, it made sense for Boone to make changes with the Yankees set to face left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr., but making the number of changes they did in the second game of the season following a win felt extreme to some. It's safe to say Boone wound up pushing all of the right buttons.
Paul Goldschmidt, for the first time in his 15-year career, led off a game, and he did so with a bang - launching the first pitch he saw over the fence. In fact, the first three pitches Cortes threw wound up resulting in home runs. The Yankees hit a fourth home run in that first inning, and have nine in total (a franchise record) as of this writing to go along with 20 runs scored.
How many Yankees fans thought Goldschmidt doing something he had never done in year 15 was the best idea? How many Yankees fans wanted Aaron Judge hitting third without Juan Soto there to hit in front of him? How many Yankees fans thought starting Trent Grisham in center field was a good idea? All three of these decisions have paid off in a huge way en route to one of the biggest offensive days in franchise history.
Boone will make his share of mistakes, but Yankees fans have to give credit where it's due - so far, his lineups have been nothing short of perfect.