“I would wholeheartedly disagree – just because a guy doesn’t throw a tantrum every time they make an out or whatever, our guys are hurting over this start, pissed off and grinding big time.”
Those are the words of Yankees manager Aaron Boone, responding to Craig Carton’s assertion that the team looks apathetic on his weekly appearance with Carton & Roberts Thursday.
Craig mentioned Gleyber Torres’ issues, and seeing Giancarlo Stanton in the dugout wearing his sweatshirt and wondering he he’s given up – he hasn’t, Boone said, pegging that on being a DH trying to stay warm between at-bats on a cold night – but he understands the optic.
“Go back in the annals in time: when offenses struggle, it can have a little bit of lifelessness to it,” Boone said. “But I promise you, it’s not from a lack of care or hunger from the guys in that room that desperately want to be the best.”
So is the issue that the Yankees may be pressing?
“I think it’s been a little in and out. There are days for certain guys where I see them look more like themselves, but when you’re still not getting those results and the rest of the guys are struggling too, you have to get through that,” Boone said. “Hitting especially, this is a game where you’re taking lumps even when it’s going well, and you have to manage your emotions.”
Whether a player internalizes emotions or has a more Brett Gardner banging the dugout roof approach, Boone noted that you have to be in command of them, because in the words of The Sandlot, sometimes you have to stop thinking and just have fun.
“We have to be ourselves, and go out between the lines and have fun playing. That’s when ultimately they’re at their best. Sometimes, guys can want it a little too much, and it gets them out of our strengths,” Boone said. “That’s one of the biggest challenges in this game. There were a couple seasons where I got off to really slow starts, and there comes a point where you have to say let the chips fall where they may when it’s game time. To get to that mental state is liberating, but you have to get there.”
And once the Yankees do, Boone says, “we’re gonna bang.”
“It’s going to happen, and that’s no question with the players we have and their track record of success,” the skipper said. “The focus on fundamentals never stops, but things get accented when a team like us is built around our offense and it isn’t there. We absolutely put a premium in being the best we can be in any facet of the game, even when we’re rolling.”
Boone knows that much of managing a team is managing the people, and as he says, it takes “different strokes for each to get the most out of them.” He and his staff are doing the best they can there, but even he admits that he’s still waiting for that big moment, even if he feels like the team has been close.
“I’ve had a number of those moments so far, where you’re waiting for the big inning, and that moment when we start to really put it together,” Boone said. “Last night we had an opportunity where we loaded the bases, and DJ hit a ball hard but right at the third baseman. There’s been a handful of those so far where you think that, but we haven’t been able to do that yet, and you have to start having the smaller successes too.”
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