Aaron Boone challenges reeling Yankees to ‘get over' extended struggles

New York Post

3 days ago

After a crushing loss Friday night, Aaron Boone noticed something a little off in his Yankees over the next two days in Miami.
The Yankees looked lifeless in a shutout loss Saturday and then followed with a '1 of 162' level of memorable in a loss Sunday to complete the Marlins' three-game sweep.
'That loss kind of just being a little disheartening, and that's the part where we've got like, OK, screw that, get over yourself, this isn't feel-sorry-for-yourself time,' Boone said Tuesday on 'Talkin' Yanks.'
While Boone often is criticized for going easy on his players, he challenged them Tuesday amid a four-game losing streak that featured another crippling loss Monday in an 8-5 walk-off defeat to the Rangers after struggling closer Devin Williams blew a one-run lead in the ninth.
The Yankees (60-53) enter Tuesday just 1 1/2 games clear of a playoff berth, and could possibly leave Texas on the outside looking in if they get swept and Seattle wins one of its next two games.
4 Aaron Boone's Yankees are skidding.
AP
'We need to get to that next level of, 'I don't care what's going on, I don't care if I've made a mistake, if I've done well in a game,' Boone said before Tuesday's game. 'This is about us and let's frickin' go,' and having that next level, I don't know about anger, you got to control your emotions in this game, but you gotta have that, make sure we have that fire going, especially when you're going through a stretch where you're losing some tough games and you've lost, and you've dug yourself a hole like, it's not woe is me, feel sorry for me, that burn has to be there and it's like, let's go. Let's go.'
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Boone acknowledged that part of the Yankees' issues in Miami following Friday's defeat — which featured them holding 6-0, 9-4 and 12-10 leads as the new relievers failed — stemmed from the pitchers they faced.
Eury Perez and Edward Cabrera shut them down, which led to a listless offense. And any team featuring a Dead Bats Society is not exactly going to look energized.
Not helping things was Jazz Chisholm's awful base-running blunder Saturday on a pop-up, which seemed to halt even the little momentum the Yankees may have had.
Monday's game featured a more inspired effort, with the Yankees grabbing a 3-0 early lead and rallying to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth, before Williams surrendered a game-tying homer in the ninth to Joc Pederson, who was hitting .126 entering the at-bat.
4 The Rangers won, 8-5, on a walk-off homer Monday night.
AP
4 The Marlins celebrate a walk-off win last Friday.
Getty Images
Trade acquisition Jake Bird then had a disastrous outing for the second time in three appearances since being acquired, allowing a walk-off three-run homer to Josh Jung that earned him a demotion.
'Obviously, it's been terrible, but right now, it's like you got to get over that. No one feels bad for ya. The tough part about it, or frustrating part about it is, I know we have the people to get it done,' Boone said.
'Time is of the essence. We continue to dig a bigger hole for us. We still have time to go on our run, but that's just talk right now. We gotta go have it.'
4 Aaron Boone discussing the Yankees on Tuesday.
@TalkinYanks/X
While the Yankees try to get on the right path, Boone said he still believes this team, at its best, can be better than any he's managed in recent years.
But there's a difference between what a perceived ceiling may be and what a team actually is in the win column.
And these Yankees are now just seven games above .500.
'The difficult thing for me right now is, I really feel like we potentially have such a good team right now and we have not been able to put it together. And a big part of that is on me. I gotta help set the tone to put these guys in the position to realize their potential,' Boone said.
'I tell a lot of people privately, I'll tell you guys now, in a lot of ways I feel like potentially this is the best team we've had here over the last several years, but we got to put it together and go realize that potential because that's all it is right now, we lose these games, we got to go. I do absolutely believe that we have that run in us, especially with the personnel we have, but talk is cheap. This is just on paper right now, it has to happen.'