Aaron Boone continues to make a fool of himself by benching one of the few Yankees bright spots again

Tuesday's loss was simply not a good look for the New York Yankees. Losing any game is bad, but The New York Mets essentially had a game plan to force anyone not named Aaron Judge to beat them, and their team failed to come through. Luis Severino was right with his pre-series comments.

What makes the loss even worse is the lineup the Yankees went with for Tuesday's game. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hitting second and third is obviously great, but the players hitting and front and behind them were strange choices to say the least.

Jahmai Jones had a total of 39 at-bats this season before yesterday's game despite being on the roster all season long. He was Boone's choice to lead off in front of the two boppers? J.D. Davis hadn't played since July 4, sidelined with an illness. In his first game back, Boone really wanted him to hit behind Soto and Judge?

It went about as well as anyone expected. Jones went 0-for-3, striking out twice before getting pinch-hit for by the light-hitting Trent Grisham. Davis also went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, before getting pinch-hit for by rookie Ben Rice.

Speaking of Rice, not only was he out on Tuesday, but he's on the bench again for Wednesday's game. Yes, he has been struggling of late and the Mets are throwing a lefty, but Aaron Boone benching his rookie two days in a row is hard to justify when Davis is drawing another start.

Aaron Boone benching Ben Rice to start J.D. Davis is a decision even he had trouble answering

Here's the Yankees lineup:

This lineup at least looks better than Tuesday's. Austin Wells, one of their hottest hitters, is slotted in behind the plate in the clean-up spot. Gleyber Torres who homered on Tuesday is leading off. The bottom of the lineup just looks weak. The decision to start Davis over Rice is really tough for anyone including Boone to understand.

When asked why Davis over Rice, Boone took a long pause before attempting to answer. Essentially, he cited the Yankees bringing Davis in for the reason of being a platoon hitter against left-handed pitching and trying to put Rice in positions where he can succeed.

While Rice has undoubtedly struggled against lefties in his brief MLB career, he had a .795 OPS against them in the minors this season. He's not incapable against southpaws, and he only has 23 MLB at-bats against them. He also put together a pair of impressive at-bats off the bench on Tuesday even with them resulting as outs. Shouldn't he get more of a chance before reverting to Davis?

The Yankees acquired Davis in late June after he was DFA'd by the now 41-62 Athletics and he has struggled in New York, recording just one hit in 16 at-bats. The illness obviously has impacted his availability, but when he has been on the field, he's done nothing.

If we want to dig deeper, Davis, again, was DFA'd by one of the worst teams in baseball, showing how poorly he had been playing before the Yankees got him. He has just a .622 OPS against lefties this season. His career numbers are better, but Boone continues to fall back on what players have been, not what they are right now. He has done the same with DJ LeMahieu while trying to justify playing him regularly.

Rice is at least an unproven commodity whereas Davis has struggled all year and has only been worse as a Yankee. He played on Tuesday, hitting in a prime spot in the order, and struggled to even put the ball in play. Not giving Rice a chance when this team badly needs a lift is a mistake, and could play a role in the Yankees losing another game against their crosstown rivals on Wednesday.