Aaron Boone Said He Gave No Consideration To Intentionally Walking Shohei Ohtani With The Game On The Line Last Night - The Angels Superstar Went On To Blast The Game-Tying Homer

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The Brian Cashman/Aaron Boone run New York Yankees are a fucking joke. Remarkable incompetence. Just blatant arrogance and stupidity. Brian Cashman's dogshit roster construction is mainly at fault for this team's failures, but make no mistake about it Aaron Boone is not the man to lead this team to greatness even if they were equipped to do the job. 

I'll set the scene for last night in case you were wisely asleep. I hope if you're a Yankees fan you weren't as dumb as me and stayed up like an asshole. Stop me if you've heard this one before, but the Yankees struggled to get anything going all night, once again against a mediocre pitcher. Finally in the 6th and 7th they managed to break through and get on the board. Entering the bottom of the 7th inning they led the Angels 3-1. This was a game they needed to have coming off a terrible series in Colorado. Michael King came in to relieve Luis Severino who actually looked solid for a change out there. Get 9 outs from the pen and you escape with a win to begin the week. 

King entered this one having been quite inconsistent lately, posting a 5.27 ERA over his last 8 outings. That's not to say he shouldn't have been out there, I'm just painting the picture for what's about to follow. Shohei Ohtani stepped to the plate representing the tying run with two outs and a man on first. 

Now you obviously know Ohtani has been superhuman this year at the plate. He's been especially scorching hot over his last 16 games with 9 homers and an OPS of 1.335. What I'm getting at? He's not a guy to fuck around with when the game is on the line. 

Now earlier in the game Ohtani came up in a big spot with runners on the corners and two out with the game scoreless in the 5th. Boone opted to intentionally walk the lefty slugger and load the bases for Mickey Moniak. Severino got Moniak to line out to right and escape trouble. Beautiful and simple. Don't let Ohtani beat you there, and leave it in the hands of quite literally anyone else. Moniak's been good, but he ain't the runaway MVP.

Well, this time around in the 7th inning while nursing a 3-1 lead Boone ignored the notion of walking Ohtani. This was the result. 

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. That precious 3-1 lead you worked so hard to get? Gone. The Yankees would go onto lose in extra innings as they failed to plate a run home against a reliever with an ERA over 5. The offense is the main reason the Yankees are in last place, but Aaron Boone doesn't help in the slightest. His postgame presser was as infuriating to listen to as expected. You just knew he was going to stand by his decision and scoff at the idea of walking the best player in the universe with the game hanging in the balance. 

Now one of the basic strategies in baseball is you never walk the tying run to bring up the game-winning/go ahead run to the plate. While that is a good rule to follow, there are always exceptions. When the guy at the plate has 34 homers and 73 RBI with two weeks to go in July and is about to command a $600M contract you operate differently. Ohtani should be getting the Barry Bonds treatment at this point. While Mickey Moniak has put together a very nice season for the Angels, he's not Shohei. You get beat by Moniak, you live with it. You allow a struggling pitcher to challenge the hottest and best bat in the game? You deserve all the misery that follows. 

Boone said he NEVER CONSIDERED walking Ohtani. 

Comical. If you're willing to do it two innings prior to load the bases for Moniak in a scoreless game then why the fuck aren't you even considering the idea in the 7th? Treating the 5th inning with more urgency and desperation than the 7th inning. What the fuck are we doing here? And if you're going to pitch to him you have to be extremely careful. Getting ahead 1-2 to throw that pitch? Insanity. 

Staying up til 1am to watch this team is torture I'd expect to see in Guantanamo Bay. Witnessing Boone continue to mismanage this team is a form of masochism. 

And Hal Steinbrenner truly wonders why the fans are angry.