Torre Made Pitchers Adjust. Boone Lets Them Settle In.
This is where I miss the Torre-era lineups.
They weren't literally L-R-L-R every night, but they had balance: lefties, righties and switch hitters throughout the order. A pitcher had to keep changing his approach from batter to batter.
With Boone, stacking lefties against a RH starter may win the platoon matchup on paper, but it can also let a pitcher settle into the same plan for several hitters in a row.
It also makes bullpen management easier. With the 3-batter minimum, L-R-L creates a matchup problem. L-L-L can make the decision obvious.
The other issue is this lineup doesn't grind enough at-bats.
In Game 1, the Yankees made Rasmussen throw 51 pitches through three innings.
Then he needed just:
9, 9, 14, 11 and 7 pitches over the next five.
That's way too comfortable in a playoff game.
The Torre teams had guys who could foul pitches off, work counts and make pitchers earn outs. Even when they weren't hitting, they could wear a starter down and get into the bullpen.
After the Game 1 offensive disaster, Boone should have made real lineup changes. It's the playoffs. You can't just keep running the same formula out there because the matchup looks good analytically.
Mix the handedness. Grind at-bats. Make pitchers adjust. Make the manager actually have to think about bullpen usage.