Yankees’ Aaron Boone Can’t Even Acknowledge the Elephant in the Room

In a game where Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes gave his team six innings with one run left, they couldn’t get over the hump to get a much-needed win after a soft series against a bad Cinnatti Reds team.

A lot of little league mistakes and a clear lack of drive plagued the Yankees on Friday night. Manager Aaron Boone is known for being a players’ coach, but things are getting out of hand, with players not being punished for mental mistakes and a clear lack of drive.

Yankees Can’t Lose Little League Games

This is not a problem a professional manager should be solving, going so far as to suggest that DJ LeMahieu was struggling despite video footage showing a half-hearted effort that nearly led to a double play. It took until the final moments for DJ to kick into high gear, but he should have been running full speed out of the batter’s box.

Not to mention Anthony Volpe fumbled a ground ball that could have scored a run. Instead, he stopped running halfway down the third-base line, and the inning ended before he could cross home plate. It was the difference between winning and losing after Clay Holmes blew a two-run lead in the ninth inning.

“We have to play better than that. That’s for sure,” he said. “We understand that and we’re investing a lot in that area. We have to play clean baseball, especially when it’s tough and things are hard to come by. We have to be better, period.”

It’s a classic Boone response: absolve everyone of their misfortunes and suggest, “We have to play better than this.” Boone needs to lay out the consequences of the mistakes that lead to losses, not give the generic answers we’ve heard over and over again for the last five years.

“We have to get our act together and get ready quickly (Saturday) to play and find out what we’re made of,” Boone said. “We’re going to be tested all the time with tough times in the season, which we definitely are right now. Extremely tough losses when you’re going through a period like that. This falls into that category. We have to turn the page quickly and come out and finish a game.”

Answers we’ve heard a million times before. The Yankees need a spark, not a cheerleader. Getting beaten by bad teams and losing the lead in critical moments is a sign of a demotivated and defeated team. It’s not a sign of a World Series-caliber trade. Ultimately, the Yankees need new blood at the trade deadline, and they need leadership in turbulent times.