The Yankees were seemingly buried in the first inning on Sunday thanks to another Luis Severino clunker, but Evan was still dumbfounded by Aaron Boone’s lack or urgency with his lineup construction.
Mainly, the absence of Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu.
“I thought yesterday was as huge of a regular season game as the Yankees will ever play,” Evan said. “The season series is on the line, which nowadays is your tiebreaker, and if you look at the standings, the Yankees were eight games back. If they win, they’re seven games back with a tiebreaker. If they lose, they’re nine games back without a tiebreaker, meaning they’re 10 games back.
“Aaron [Boone] tries a lot of stuff, but there’s no way in hell that you can go into a game of that importance and sit DJ LeMahieu, who looked good Friday and Saturday, and Aaron Judge. You’re not a serious franchise, you have no urgency if you go into a game that I think I aptly described as monumental, and say, ‘Yeah, we gotta make sure Aaron Judge is OK.’ You can’t do that.”
Judge went 3-for-5 with a home run on Saturday night, but with a chance to take the series on Sunday, Boone played it safe with the reigning MVP, who recently returned from a two-month absence due to a toe injury. Evan says, given where the Yankees are in the standings, Boone can’t afford that level of precaution.
“On Saturday, he’s playing right field, and he’s looking as good as he’s looking,” Evan said. “I take everything we thought on Friday, and burn it.”
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