Aaron Boone has said at times that he and the Yankees are frustrated, to varying degrees, about the inconsistency of the offense this season.
After Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the Tigers that finished off a three-game sweep in Detroit, that frustration was elevated to expletive level – but Boone is still confident the team can turn it around in a hurry.
“Incredibly frustrated. A bad end to a terrible weekend. But as pissed off as I am, and as we should be by the way we played, it’s a bad weekend, and we need to turn the page,” Boone said. “We’re better than this, and we need to be better. We have an important home stand coming up against some really good opponents, and yes, we are absolutely good enough, and need to find a way to play cleaner baseball more consistently.”
The pitching this weekend, outside of Gerrit Cole, didn’t help, allowing 15 runs to the Tigers against just five scored – with 12 of those Tigers runs coming unanswered. But, even when the Yankees did score, they hurt themselves in the process; Saturday’s lone run came on a Miguel Andujar double play with the bases loaded and no outs, and their second run Sunday came on a play where shortstop Zach Short threw wide of first base to allow Gary Sanchez to reach – before Sanchez was easily thrown out trying to go to second.
It all led to the Yankees being swept in Detroit for the first time since 2000, and a 1-5 week after winning six in a row against the Rangers and White Sox last week…and Boone admitted it all starts with him.
“We haven’t mounted enough to win ballgames when we’re certainly capable of it,” Boone said. “That starts with me and the coaching staff. I think we prepare well, but we obviously have to do better. A lot of times, we’ve put a lot of these mistakes behind us, but some of the baserunning mishaps that still happen…that part of the game needs to be cleaned up. In a lot of cases they’re mental mistakes, and we have to be better.”
The skipper was asked if the constant shuffling of positions and lineup spots may play into some of the lack of consistency, but he said “that’s just an excuse.”
“The reality is that’s inevitable, and you have to have the position flexibility to move players around when you have three or four man benches, so that’s just an excuse,” Boone said.
This coming home stretch is huge for the Yankees, as the Rays begin a four-game set Monday afternoon, and then the Red Sox come to town for the first series of their rivalry. Those will be the two teams atop the AL East when the calendar turns to June, so this one could be feast or famine depending on which Yankees show up.
“As frustrated as I am, I’m not going to let a bad weekend cloud what I know this team is capable of, and that’s a pretty good run that we were just on to get us back into things,” Boone said. “We need to clean some things up, address some things certainly with this series. But also know that not only do we expect more, but we’re capable of more.”
And, Boone says, he knows that more is in there, and can come out at any time.
“What gives me solace is the team and the players and the individuals in that room, what I’ve seen them do over the last few years, over the course of their career,” the skipper said. “I know what we’re capable of. That said, it’s not just throwing your glove out there, expecting something to happen. We’ve got to go out and make it happen.”
Aaron Judge, who is the lone qualified Yankee hitting .300 (he ended Sunday at .301), is confident the Yankees will.
“Oh, of course; I’ve seen each guy at their best at some point in their career, at some point in the season,” Judge said. “It’s going to come. But what we’ve been putting out there right now isn’t our best. It’s unacceptable. We’ve just got to dig down deeper and make some changes and figure it out.”
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