BOSTON — Sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden in the mid-’80s, the late Maury Allen was watching the Knicks sleepwalk through another loss that had the crowd howling.
“You can be bad in this town but not boring. You can be boring if you are good,’’ the former Post sportswriter said. “But bad and boring in this town is a death sentence.’’
With one leg of a six-month gig ending, the Yankees were qualified as bad (8-13) going into Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox in Fenway Park. And they were boring. They never have been “Animal House’’ in double knits, but they haven’t lacked for personalities, either. This bunch is professional, but who among the 25-man roster makes you stop and watch?
Alex Rodriguez was that player a year ago. CC Sabathia was worth investing three hours at Yankee Stadium or on television. Neither is that player these days. Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller certainly are worth investing time in, but there is no guarantee when they will pitch.
Do you ever look around the office at 3 p.m. and suggest to your fellow workers they leave early to watch Jacoby Ellsbury play?
Shout “It’s early’’ and remember this: April is gone, and that’s the first of six months the Yankees can’t get back.
MVP: Closers
Say hello to Dellin Miller. That’s short for Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, the best late-game bullpen duo in baseball and easily the best part of the Yankees’ roster.
Going into Saturday’s action, the duo had faced a combined 79 batters and fanned 39. In 20 ¹/₃ innings they had given up three earned runs, 11 hits and two walks.
Only a fool would believe the addition of Aroldis Chapman on May 9 won’t make the Yankees’ better. Chapman will close with his 100-mph fastball, Betances will work the seventh and Miller, who is 5-for-5 in saves, gets the ball for the eighth.
Of course, the starters and hitters must go deeper and touch the plate with more regularity in order to get leads to K-BMC. Based on the first month, that might be asking a lot, but for the Yankees to have a decent May, it’s a must because the back end of the bullpen is too good to waste.
LVP: Chase Headley
The Yankees were 8-13 going into Saturday’s action because there is more than one serious candidate to be named here.
Michael Pineda was awful. Luis Severino is dangerously close to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Ellsbury has been pedestrian at best. Rodriguez has to be better in May than April or the Yankees are in big trouble.
Yet, Headley lands atop the list.
The switch-hitting third baseman worked all spring to correct a throwing problem that led to a career-high 23 errors last season. It has paid off with more accuracy.
However, he started Friday night’s action batting a paltry .140, third-worst in the majors out of 199 qualifiers. His .405 OPS was next-to-last.
And Headley had more stolen bases (three) than RBIs (two).
Looking ahead
Sixteen of the 29 games in May are outside of The Bronx.
Following the close of a three-game series at Fenway Park on Sunday night, the Yankees travel to Baltimore for three against the muscular Orioles. After a 10-game challenging homestand in which the Red Sox, Royals and White Sox invade Yankee Stadium, the Yankees have three in Arizona and four in Oakland. Then it’s three at home with Toronto, three at Tampa Bay and two in Toronto.
Providing he doesn’t suffer an injury, Chapman returns from suspension May 9 with the Royals in town. Chapman was banned for 30 games for violating MLB’s domestic abuse policy. It will be interesting to see how Yankee fans treat him since the issue is much more toxic than PEDs.
A few things to think about
With two more years after this one and $26 million coming, there isn’t much the Yankees can do with Headley. There is no every-day third baseman in the system, and at that money he is not able to traded even if he wasn’t hitting so poorly.
Rodriguez showed signs of life with a three-hit game Wednesday at Texas and a homer Friday in Boston, giving him four on the season. Was that a start of a rebound in May? Or was April — when, going into Saturday, he was hitting .194 (95th out of 100 AL qualifiers) with a .286 on-base percentage (74th out of 103) and fanned 19 times in 62 at-bats — an indication of what awaits? Could it lead manager Joe Girardi to use Rodriguez as a DH against lefties? That would open DH at-bats for Carlos Beltran.
Until Aaron Hicks hurt his left shoulder diving for a ball on April 22, Girardi started the switch-hitter in all five games started by lefties and Hicks went 1-for-15 (.067). If that continues can Girardi stick with Hicks?
If Bryan Mitchell was in the Yankees’ bullpen, Luis Severino might already be in SWB. Four starts into the season the 22-year-old right-hander hasn’t looked like the pitcher who made 11 big league starts a year ago. He is 0-3 with a 6.86 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .372 against him.
However, Mitchell is out until at least August and Ivan Nova is the long man/spot starter. In five outings Nova is 1-0 with a 5.11 ERA and hitters are at. 286 against him.
Game of the month
Yankees 3, Rays 2, April 23
Masahiro Tanaka pitched like the staff ace he is supposed to be, limiting the Rays to two runs and five hits in seven innings. Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller hurled scoreless frames, and Brett Gardner drove in two runs.
After a two-out, RBI single tied the score, 2-2, in the seventh, Gardner homered with two out off Erasmo Ramirez in the ninth.
Yankees by the numbers
(All numbers going into Saturday’s game).
4.43: Staff ERA after 21 games, second-worst among the 15 AL teams. Only the Astros at (5.08) was worse than the Yankees.
46: Total extra-base hits by the Yankees, which was last in the AL.
.333: Much has been made of the Yankees’ inability to hit with runners in scoring position (last in the AL at .192), but in the previous 11 games opposing hitters were 24-for-72 in the clutch.
39: Number of runs the Yankees scored in the past 16 games, in which they went 5-11.
6: Not Joe Torre’s number. Number of save chances the Yankees have had in 20 games. They have converted all six. Only the Astros (four) had fewer opportunities.