Aaron Boone, Clay Holmes combine to ruin Little League Classic for Yankees

We hope the Little Leaguers in Williamsport, PA, really loved pitching! Because that's mostly all they got on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball broadcast of the Little League Classic between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers.

Through 8.5 innings, only one run was scored and 11 total hits were registered. The Yanks led 1-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth as manager Aaron Boone called on Clay Holmes. Since June, Holmes' appearances have been a coin flip, and the Yankees called the wrong side for this one.

After striking out Kerry Carpenter, Holmes gave up a double to Colt Keith. He struck out Spencer Torkelson next to get the second out, and all he had to do was handle top prospect Jace Jung, who just got called up on Thursday to face the Yankees in this series.

Holmes left far too many pitches over the plate in that inning, though, and Jung ripped a single into left field to tie the game. The right-hander's inefficient 22-pitch outing marked his 10th blown save this season. This came after Marcus Stroman went six scoreless and Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle dominated out of the bullpen.

New York would take the lead in the top of the 10th, but Brian Cashman's trade deadline acquisition in Mark Leiter Jr. promptly blew the game in just six pitches. He gave up a single to the Tigers' worst hitter in Zach McKinstry, which tied it up. Then, rookie Parker Meadows singled McKinstry home after he stole second base. Eight incredible innings erased by two choke-job relief appearances. Yankees lose, 3-2.

Aaron Boone, Clay Holmes combine to ruin Little League Classic for Yankees

And why did Jasson Dominguez double-clutch there? Can somebody explain any of this to us? His call-up on Sunday was supposed to be something we're celebrating!

Instead, Boone batted him fifth in the lineup. Remember when Cashman said 15 times this year that there was "no lane" for Dominguez at the big-league level. Turns out, there was! As the fifth hitter in a rubber match on Sunday Night Baseball against the AL Cy Young frontrunner! Yes! Dominguez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and looked like he was getting completely fooled.

Hm, what else did Boone do in this one? He started Jose Trevino over Austin Wells again (spare us with the "matchups" argument) and continued to play Anthony Volpe, who is mired in another one of his catastrophic slumps (5 for his last 45). Boone has refused to give him an off day despite the presence of both Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera.

Had the lineup been constructed with any sort of intention, perhaps the Yankees score more than one run. Had Holmes been able to lock it in against a group of inexperienced/bad hitters, the Yankees win the game.

Instead, the same weekend Alex Verdugo found out his allergic to batting gloves and his own tattoos, the Yankees (hopefully) realized they're allergic to most of their decisions.

The organization seriously looked at this roster before the trade deadline and essentially decided one more semi-impact bat and two fungible relievers would do the trick in advancing their World Series hopes. The longer they let the Orioles hang around, the more exposed they will be to falling in the Wild Card round.

They just lost a series to a glorified Triple-A team. They have scored just 20 runs in their last six games, which includes an outlier 10-run performance. There is no semblance of consistency or direction. They run off Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, and little else.

The least they can do is have those two sign some extra autographs before boarding the plane after letting down the many young passionate Yankees fans in attendance.