After getting swept by the Houston Astros in the ALCS, the New York Yankees are taking heat for trying to use the 2004 Red Sox as a source of inspiration. YES Network play-by-play announcer Michael Kay ripped the Yankees, especially manager Aaron Boone, for making what he considers to be a "tone deaf" decision.
Ahead of Sunday's Game 4 between the Astros and Yankees, Boone admitted that mental skills coach Chad Bohling passed out highlights of the Red Sox's legendary comeback against the Yankees to fire up the players. That Red Sox team is still the only MLB in history to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the postseason, and it still brings back awful memories for Yankees fans.
On his ESPN Radio show, Kay said he couldn't believe the Yankees thought that would be a good idea. He even said the move insulted former Yankees who were on that 2004 club.
"How, in baseball god's name, can you be so tone deaf as an organization, as if to do that?" Kay said on 'The Michael Kay Show.' "How can you be that tone deaf? Talk about bad optics. Are you out of your mind? I talked to three players from the '04 team. They were outraged by the fact that their failure was being used as motivation for the 2022 team."
Kay was also stunned that Boone just offered up that bit of information to the media. Kay asserted that former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would have fired someone for trying to use the franchise's biggest on-field disaster as a source of inspiration for the current team.
"Here's the amazing thing, they told the media," Kay said. "Aaron Boone told the media. 'Oh yeah, we put together a tape of the '04 Red Sox.' Oh my goodness. ... If George Steinbrenner were alive today, somebody would be fired to do something like that. That's tone deaf. You're gonna use the darkest moment in Yankees history, the darkest moment on-field in Yankee history where they blew a 3-0 lead, and you're gonna use that as motivation for the 2022 Yankees?"
Now that the Yankees' 2022 season is over, the team will have some big decisions in the offseason, but it's safe to assume that they won't ever use the Red Sox as a beacon of inspiration again.
