RodÓn Stopped The Rays. Boone Couldn’t Stop The Celebration

For one game today the Yankees looked ready to make Tampa Bay wait.

Carlos Rodón was terrific in the doubleheader opener. He gave the Yankees eight scoreless innings, allowed just three hits and didn’t walk a batter. Cody Bellinger hit a two-run homer, David Bednar finished the shutout, and the Yankees won 2-0. It was crisp, decisive baseball. It also required Rodón to be nearly perfect because the lineup managed only five hits.

And Anthony Volpe? 0-for-3. Another empty line on a day when every run mattered. I’m tired of being told to see the player the Yankees hope he’ll become while watching the player standing in the batter’s box. Dude’s not good period. If Boone is making October decisions based on faith in Volpe instead of what he’s producing, fans have every reason to worry.

The nightcap gave those fans plenty more to worry about. Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the seventh and struck out 11. Heliot Ramos finally broke it up with a double, and George Lombard Jr. drove in the Yankees’ lone run. Meanwhile, Taylor Walls helped Tampa Bay build its lead, and Yandy Díaz drove in four. The Rays won 6-1, clinched the AL East, and celebrated at Yankee Stadium. That’s the image fans are left with after a split that briefly felt promising.

Now comes the familiar request to stay calm because the Yankees made the playoffs. Fine. They made it. But October doesn’t hand out runs for regular-season wins, and it doesn’t give a manager extra time to figure things out. Aaron Judge is expected to miss the Wild Card series. The lineup just produced one run and three hits in the game that decided the division. A fan looking at that and feeling uneasy is paying attention.

And that brings me to Aaron Boone. His teams win plenty of games over a long season. I know the number. What I want to know is why, when the pressure rises, I’m supposed to trust him to get the crucial decisions right. A manager is judged by what happens when there’s no comfortable margin left, and Boone has done little to earn that trust from me. Why does Hal Steinbrenner continue to allow Boone to manage this team? How many anxious Octobers does he need to see before he asks whether regular-season success is enough?

Rodón showed what the Yankees can look like at their best. A few hours later, the Rays showed them what it looks like to finish the job. The Yankees still have a postseason ahead of them, but this is a rocky road to get there. Right now, being a Yankees fan feels less like anticipation and more like bracing for the next bump.