“We were planning on going short in (Game 2), knowing we could bring Deivi back in a Game 4 or Game 5 scenario.”
Straight out of the mouth of Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who admitted in his weekly appearance on Joe & Evan that Deivi Garcia was always meant to be an “opener” in Game 2 – not necessarily locked in to just the one inning he threw, but not too much more.
And ultimately, that was meant to leverage the right matchups for not only Garcia and JA Happ, but anyone and everyone who could’ve been part of the game plan.
“Deivi is a pretty good matchup against lefties, but we were trying to leverage not just for Deivi or Happ, but beyond that too,” Boone said. “(The Rays) have done a really good job of creating a roster that exploits platoon advantage, and we were trying to counteract that by giving everyone solid lanes, creating better matchups for us and forcing them to make decisions. We knew all three of our other starters would play a big role in this series, and we’re set up in a 5 game series to try and take advantage of their strengths.”
However, in being asked about both his and Happ’s level of comfort with what ultimately was a plan that didn’t come together, Boone did, in a back-handed way, admit it wasn’t all his idea.
“Look, any time you do something that’s a little different, it’s done with a lot of thought and discussion with other people. Every decision we make, I make, is with the idea of how to win the game and best win a series,” he said. “You also understand that especially in the postseason, not everything is going to go according to plan. There’s trepidation because I’m doing something a little different than normal, and when it doesn’t work, you have to live with the results – but ultimately, it comes down to my call.”
That collaborative effort is a factor in every decision, though.
“Any time we’re making a roster decision or lineup decision or pitching decision, I enter into discussions with coaches and front office staff. These are things we put a lot of thought into,” Boone said. “Just because it didn’t work doesn’t mean that going the other way guaranteed a win.
These are difficult decisions, but they’re well thought out, and in the case of Game 2, it didn’t work out as we hoped.”
And, to further dispel rumors, Boone said that Happ was indeed knowledgeable of the plan well in advance.
“I spoke with him days in advance when I was thinking through this, so he was very much prepared and ready for it,” Boone said. “It kind of evolved and was a 24-48 hour conversation about my thoughts and his thoughts, and ultimately me making the decision. As a starter, it’s not necessarily something in their normal routine, but it’s something we’ve done with JA in the past. We did an opener with him late in the year last year. We felt we could get him into his normal routine, and it didn’t work out.”
Of course, Happ would have been well within his right to express trepidation of his own, but when it comes to decision making, Boone knows the human element is just as important as the calculations.
“It happens all the time, and you have to weigh that and strike that balance. You don’t always give in to every player’s needs or ideal desires,” the skipper said, “but certainly, I try to put everybody in a comfortable position to maximize their performance and put them in the best position to succeed. That’s the balance I have to strike as a manager, so oftentimes, they are a big part of the conversation.”
Listen to Boone’s entire segment below, and tune in to WFAN tonight to see if the Yankees can force a winner-take-all Game 5!
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