Aaron Boone's NSFW ejection vs Astros sums up Yankees disaster every fan saw coming

It appeared as if the New York Yankees would be cruising to another victory in Houston on Wednesday night. They jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with homers from Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells. Will Warren allowed three baserunners through four innings.

But then Warren turned into a punching bag, surrendering hard contact immediately as the fifth inning began. He gave up a run, finished the inning, and then was yanked in the sixth after surrendering a leadoff homer to Jeremy Peña. And that's when everything fell apart.

Aaron Boone called on Fernando Cruz, who immediately gave up another run in the blink of an eye. Luke Weaver came on in the seventh, and he wasn't sharp, but it didn't help that home plate umpire Brian Walsh started to lose the zone. Pitches that had been called strikes all night were all of a sudden balls. Weaver gave up a run after the inning was extended on the newfound strike zone, and the game was tied at 4-4.

And we're still not even close to the worst part! All the momentum from Tuesday night's win has been stomped to death.

Boone brought in Devin Williams in a tie game in the eighth. When Devin Williams left the game in the eighth inning, the Yankees trailed 5-4, the Astros had the bases loaded, and the right-hander had thrown 34 pitches (and only 17 strikes!) before getting ejected. Williams was not good, but neither was Walsh, and everybody had had it.

Aaron Boone's NSFW ejection vs Astros sums up Yankees disaster every fan saw coming

Walsh ejected Williams without hesitation the moment he opened his mouth, which Boone took exception to. Then, as Boone was leaving the mound, Walsh stared him down, prompting Boone to say something. Walsh then threw him out. Boone blew an absolute gasket on everybody in sight and got his money's worth. But at that point, it didn't matter because he left Williams in there to die for reasons nobody can explain. The second Williams served up a fastball to Carlos Correa for a leadoff double after the slugger was clearly struggling with the changeup, it was over.

For good measure, though, David Cone absolutely laid into the umpiring crew during the broadcast for the way they handled themselves, seemingly antagonizing the Yankees and trying to bait them after tensions reached their peak.

And it all continued to spiral when the drama settled. Camilo Doval was the next bullpen arm to be completely wasted in this one, and he allowed all of the remaining runners to score (and they were all charged to Williams, whose ERA is now 5.60). Doval gave up an RBI single and then let in runs on a wild pitch and a balk. Just like that, it was 8-4 Astros.

Why Williams was the choice, we don't know. Why the Yankees didn't intentionally walk Yordan Alvarez so Weaver could face Jose Altuve, we don't know. Why Anthony Volpe doesn't live in the No. 9 hole for the rest of time, we don't know.

To make it all the more agonizing, the Yankees rallied a bit in the ninth, with Cody Bellinger slugging a three-run homer to make it a one-run game. Had the Williams/Doval tag team not been the worst thing anybody's ever seen, the Yankees probably would've won this game. Walsh of course ended the evening by ringing up Jazz Chisholm on a ball that was more off the plate than any of the others he dinged Weaver and Williams for.

All the more reason to come out and respond with force on Thursday. This cannot be the game that takes the Yankees off track, even though many fans know it very well could be. Sadly, it was a predictable meltdown — the least the Yankees can do is attempt to rewrite what everyone feels the predictable response will be.