Yankees woeful night epitomized by horrendous Angel Hernandez

There are zero positives the Yankees can take away from their 16-1 drubbing by the Red Sox. And even worse, Angel Hernandez, who blew three calls at first base is scheduled to be the home plate umpire in Game 4 of the ALDS.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it, Monday night’s ALDS Game 3 performance was abysmal. It was an utter embarrassment for anyone and everyone associated with the Yankees, fans included.

What was supposed to be a raucous crowd of 49,657 screaming supporters turned into a cathedral of crickets. Naturally, when things go DEFCON level-5 bad, people want answers — or at the very least someone to take the blame.

However, the Yankees were a cluster of confusion even before the first pitch was thrown, as starter Luis Severino was reportedly late to the bullpen for his pre-game warmups.

TBS analyst Ron Darling noted that Severino arrived at the ‘pen at 7:32 PM — just eight minutes before the scheduled first pitch of Game 3. Both Sevy and pitching coach Larry Rothschild claimed the shortened warmup was per usual.

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However, Severino only went three innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out two. Not a great defense for his pregame ritual, even if it isn’t out of the norm.

Manager Aaron’s Boone decision to leave in Severino, who clearly didn’t have it, and turn the ball over to Lance Lynn immediately backfired, following Andrew Benintendi’s bases-clearing double. Again, Boone’s questionable bullpen management will be dissected should the Yanks eventually fall to the Sox.

Following the abrupt seven spot put up by the Sox in the fourth inning (equaling a playoff record for most runs scored at Yankee Stadium in a single inning), the rest of the New York bullpen was equally gruesome, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits.

Rubbing salt in the wound was the appearance of backup catcher Austin Romine on the mound in the eighth inning. All he did was give up a two-run homer to Brock Holt. I understand saving what was left of the actual bullpen for Game 4, but having a position player take the mound in a playoff game is about as embarrassing as it gets.

The 15-run margin culminated in the worst Postseason loss for the Yankees in franchise history.

As for first base umpire Angel Hernandez, he too had an evening to forget. In the first four innings alone, Hernandez had four calls go to replay. In total, three of the five calls that went to the booth were called wrong by an umpire who’s been at the job since 1991.

Considered Hernandez is one of the most polarizing personalities in his profession; it’s reported that he turned to Yankees first baseman Luke Voit at one point and said, “I’ll get the next one right.” Well, that makes everything all right then!

This is the reason robot umpires will one day work MLB games. It’s not like Hernandez was out of position on any of the five plays in question. He had a clear view on each call he missed, especially the egregious out call on Didi Gregorius in the fourth inning.

Of course, Twitter had a field day, as everyone from pitcher Brandon McCarthy to Peter Gammons weighed in on Hernandez’s miscues.

Instead of MLB taking immediate action and removing Hernandez from this series, he’s scheduled to call balls and strikes in Game 4 — as noted by Joel Sherman.

"If any player performed like Angel Hernandez tonight he would be in jeopardy of being benched. Hernandez gets home plate in a playoff game tomorrow."

Now with their backs against the wall, and every other do or die cliche one can think of, 18-year veteran C.C. Sabathia will look to stave off elimination, and send the series back to Boston, where a potential rematch of Game 1 starters, J.A. Happ and Chris Sale awaits.

With Hernandez as the home plate umpire, how long do you think Sabathia lasts before he blows his lid due to a bad call and gets tossed? In my opinion, the over/under should be 3.2 innings.

For his career, in possible Postseason elimination games, Sabathia is 2-2 with a 3.76 ERA, as his teams are a total 3-2. Let’s hope, Sabathia, who continues to talk about his intent to play next season even if it isn’t for the Yankees, has another ‘w’ up his sleeve.