Aaron Boone's reaction after Ben Rice's fundamental disaster sums up Yankees-Red Sox

The New York Yankees headed to Fenway Park with two pitching mismatches on Saturday and Sunday in a series where they had to make a statement against the rallying Red Sox - especially following last weekend's punking in the Bronx.

Instead of putting their foot down and laying down the law, they regressed in every aspect of the game - from even last weekend, when they played a trio of slugfests and won one of them.

After a dramatic Aaron Judge home run in the opener, Anthony Volpe was caught stealing third base to lead off the 10th; Aaron Boone was later ejected after the replay booth failed to figure out where DJ LeMahieu's "double" landed.

On Saturday, the Yankees lost by one and couldn't erase a 4-0 deficit. With two on and two out in the seventh inning, Jasson Dominguez believed that two strikes were three; he wandered off the base and neutered a scoring opportunity.

Through the first three innings of Sunday's game, the Yankees saw a leadoff double stranded in the first, followed by Ben Rice wandering off second base with two outs in the third, mimicking Dominguez's flub almost exactly.

Aaron Boone's reaction here said it all - and also it didn't. Because it briefly made us sympathize with the man who has to bear some level of responsibility for what he was left stunned by this weekend.

Boone is not the sole arbiter of sloppiness. But after a weekend full of fundamental missteps, it was increasingly impossible by the hour to side with him in his fight against reality.

Yankees' fundamental disaster continues with Ben Rice mess vs. Boston Red Sox Sunday

If you have been able to watch this weekend's series without emotion, then God bless you.

This may not have a grand, sweeping impact on the Yankees' season. The Red Sox may not be able to turn their sudden prosperity into a second-half surge. This may not be a "big" series, after all. But the Yankees looking their absolute worst on the "big stage" at Fenway Park has to cloud any genuine fan's judgment, at least a little bit.

The Yankees are now below .500 against the Red Sox since 2021, a span that includes two last-place Sox teams and two first-place Yankees clubs (and an American League champion). That's significant. That says plenty about who plays down (or up) to whom. And it'll leave any fan who really cares about the day-to-day staring blankly like Boone, witnessing another wanderer.