SEATTLE — Aaron Boone can’t stand in the middle of the Yankees’ clubhouse and blister the paint by screaming at his team because players know that wouldn’t be Boone being who he is.
Nor can the first-year manager hit, pitch, catch or throw the baseball.
Yet, faced with 22 games remaining, Boone can make decisions that will impact a team that enters Friday night’s game against the Mariners 3 ½ lengths ahead of the A’s in the chase for top AL wild-card spot that provides home-field advantage for the lose-and-go-home game.
With six losses in the past 10 games, the Yankees have at times looked sloppy in the field and overmatched at the plate, and the starting pitching, as a whole, in that stretch has been awful.