The Yankees pulled an utterly insane move to try to win their series, and it did not work

BOSTON -- For Red Sox fans, the World Series victory in 2004 was a life-changing event, one that guaranteed them happiness and joy not just in the moment but for the remainder of their lives. Not only did the Red Sox win their first championship in 86 years, but they also became the first team to rally from a 3-0 deficit in a series in postseason history. And, of course, they did that against the Yankees.

That path to the World Series ensured that for the rest of eternity, whenever a team fell behind 3-0 in a series, the 2004 Boston Red Sox would be referenced as the only team to ever overcome those nearly impossible odds.

So Red Sox fans had to have been delighted on Sunday when they saw this report from Bryan Hoch: "Aaron Boone said that Chad Bohling, the #Yankees' mental skills coach, was sending around highlight videos of the 2004 Red Sox this morning. Eduardo Perez also FaceTimed David Ortiz into Boone's office pregame."

With all due respect to Mr. Chad Bohling, I do believe we have to question his mental skills coaching here.

Now, yes, it's true that no current Yankees really have anything to do with the 2004 Yankees. The closest they come in that regard is with their manager, Aaron Boone, though he tore his ACL while playing basketball after his famous 2003 postseason home run and had his contract terminated prior to the 2004 season. 

But Aaron Judge was a 12-year-old in Northern California when the Red Sox came back against the Yankees in October of 2004. Gleyber Torres was a few months shy of his eighth birthday. Isiah Kiner-Falefa was 9 years old in Hawaii, a bit removed from the heat of the Red Sox Yankees rivalry. Oswaldo Cabrera, who played in seven postseason games for New York this year, was just 5 years old when Pokey Reese threw to Doug Mientkiewicz to end that 2004 ALCS. Safe to assume he was asleep for it. Gerrit Cole and Harrison Bader grew up as Yankees fans, so they felt the sting in '04 ... even if Cole was 14 and Bader was 10.

So yes, while it was the Yankees losing those games in the footage from the 2004 ALCS, it wasn't these Yankees.

But still, using what is arguably the lowest point in Yankees franchise history to try to inspire the current Yankees to go out and pull off a comeback? That's a truly bizarre strategy.

Derek Jeter said in his documentary this year that the thought of the '04 ALCS still makes him sick to his stomach. And that's the moment that the mental skills coach wanted to highlight before a do-or-die game for the Yankees? 

Somehow, against all odds, this bit of mental skills coaching did not work.

Despite taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning and a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning, the Yankees didn't have a Dave Roberts stolen base in them, nor did they have a clutch single from the criminally underrated Bill Mueller, nor did they have five-plus innings of clutch relief pitching from the likes of Keith Foulke, Alan Embree, Mike Myers and Curtis Leskanic.

And of course, they didn't have David Ortiz crushing any bombs for them in the bottom of the 12th.

So, there will be no Big Papi walkoff in Game 5, there will be no bloody sock or Mark Bellhorn homers in Game 6, and there will be no Johnny Damon grand salamis in Game 7. Instead, the Yankees are heading home for the winter, wondering which team will offer Aaron Judge the best contract. 

While they didn't have any of that '04 magic, the Yankees did have David Ortiz on FaceTime in Aaron Boone's office pregame. It's crazy how that didn't help.

Considering Hoch's tweet went a bit viral on Sunday afternoon, he wrote some more about the situation. Hoch shared that Ortiz was apparently offering encouraging words to Boone.

"He said, 'Just keep the energy, one game at a time,'" Perez relayed regarding Ortiz's message to Boone. "That's what [Ortiz] told [Boone], but with his passion, which I definitely cannot replicate. But he just said, 'Hey man, just go play and have fun.' So what, basically.'" 

Perez added: "[Ortiz] answered and he was like, 'Dude! You guys have got to do what we did back then.'"

Looks like we might need to have a Wally The Green Monster "SportsCenter" commercial moment with David. This can't be happening, man.

While Ortiz is naturally a friend to everyone in baseball, his countryman and former teammate was anything but diplomatic after the Astros completed their sweep of the Yankees on Sunday night.

"I have one question for all of New York: New York, who's your daddy now?" Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez said on the TBS postgame show. "I just want to know! I want an answer, and I want it quick. New York: Who's your daddy?!"

That's kind of what happens when the Yankees look to the Red Sox for inspiration. They kind of asked for that one.

And while Red Sox fans had very little to celebrate this year or this postseason, they can at least sleep well at night knowing that the Yankees were forced to watch footage of the most epic collapse in baseball history prior to ending their own season. The 2004 ALCS remains the gift that keeps on giving.