Yankees fans owe Aaron Boone an apology for lineup complaints during Red Sox series

Heading into the series against the Red Sox, Yankees fans were not happy when Friday's lineup dropped. Aaron Boone had benched two of the team's hottest hitters in Luis García Jr. and Spencer Jones simply because a left-handed pitcher (Patrick Sandoval!) was on the mound. It felt horribly irresponsible.

And honestly, after the first two games of the series, it did. The Yankees won Friday's opener 1-0 and then lost the first game of Saturday's doubleheader by the score of 6-0. On the surface, Boone got lucky on Friday night and then put together a terrible group on Saturday afternoon.

But then came Saturday night. A much better lineup had one of its most aggressive games of the season. The Yankees scored nine runs on 13 hits (all singles!) and only one starter (Heliot Ramos) didn't get on base. That gave them the momentum heading into Sunday, which was a bloodbath.

After a controversial replay review that broke the Red Sox's spirits, the Yankees put up 16 runs to win three out of the four games. They won the season series 7-6 and now own the tiebreaker if there's any playoff/Wild Card nonsense.

The Yankees finished Sunday with 18 hits and seven walks. Some of that came against position player Andrew Monasterio pitching, but for the most part they already slammed the door shut with a statement 10-run performance against Ranger Suárez, Greg Weissert and Jovani Moran.

In between the lines shows perhaps the more important development(s). Paul Goldschmidt's solo home run on Friday was the difference maker. Heliot Ramos' trademark moment since the trade deadline — a three-run homer off Suárez to make it a 5-0 game — was the Sunday statement. Before that homer, Ali Sanchez's sacrifice bunt put all the pressure on Boston when he moved the runners to second and third base. Goldschmidt also went 3-for-6 with a homer and three RBI on Sunday.

Aaron Boone got away with questionable Yankees lineup changes — he may have been right

Call it lucky, if you want. We wouldn't necessarily disagree. But the outcome is the outcome. The Yankees got the one run that mattered on Friday from a bench player and then proceeded to score 25 runs over the final two games with some key names sitting out. The Yankees took three out of four from the Red Sox to control their playoff destiny. If the Yankees blew it, Boone would be catching heat, so the opposite is warranted after the desired result.

The offense was nonexistent for two games and then an absolute machine for the other two. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, but three wins over the Sox while sending their fanbase into a tailspin over a replay review was almost the best possible outcome.

In the end, the Yankees offense delivered. And the most criticized moves of subbing in Goldschmidt/Ramos in for whatever combination of Ben Rice/Cody Bellinger/Spencer Jones paid dividends.

Right now, it's much better to be a Yankees fan with a wrong Aaron Boone take than a Red Sox fan of any kind.

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