By WFAN.com
Yankees manager Aaron Boone joined Mike's On Thursday to talk about the team's recent hot streak.
After winning 17 of 18 games and jumping the Red Sox for first place in the American League East, the manager is thrilled with the way his team has been playing.
"It's been a lot of fun to see these guys go out and compete nightly against what's been really great competition," Boone told Mike Francesa Thursday evening. "We've shown the ability to win games in a lot of different ways. Whether it's coming back late against a number of closers now, or needing to score a lot of runs and slug, or whether we've had to win low-scoring games. We've been able to do that, and I think that's been real satisfying."
New York has found success in all aspects of the game, from its starting pitching, to the team's bullpen, to the dominance of its lineup. But with the number of dangerous hitters featured in the Yankees' lineup, opposing pitchers struggle to find "easy outs" on a nightly basis.
Through 36 games, New York ranks in the top two in all of baseball in on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and runs batted in.
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"That's one of the things that's been really fun to watch with these guys," the Yankees manager said about his team's offensive production. "Since Day 1 of spring training, we've made it our mantra that we're just going to find a way and really grind out at-bats. It doesn't always end in a hit or getting on base, but the more we feel like we can make that pitcher work, eventually, more often than not, we've been able to break that dam and get through at some point, even if the pitcher's been having his way with us most of the night.
"That's a credit to these guys, and the way they treat their at-bats game after game, at-bat after at-bat. It doesn't matter the circumstances."
Aaron Judge has led the way for the Yankees, hitting .308 with nine home runs and 27 RBI through his first 133 at-bats. Joining Judge in the heart of the lineup is Didi Gregorius, whose 10 home runs and 30 RBI lead the team.
While Judge and Gregorius are certainly two of New York's most important hitters, the Yankees have received solid production from everyone in their lineup during the recent hot streak. Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, and Neil Walker have all picked up big hits recently for the Bombers, and their performance has not gone unnoticed by their manager.
"When you're going to win big and go out and consistently beat good clubs like we have of late, you've got to get contributions from everywhere..." Boone said during his weekly appearance on Mike's On. "Torres and Andujar at the bottom and Walker, those guys have played critical roles. They've had great at-bats in the biggest moments, and I think it's one of the things that made this sustainable- the fact that up and down, we make it really hard night in and night out."
