“Work could be better! But I grew up in this. It’s a hard game, and you try to embrace the adversity as much as the good times.”
Those are the words of Aaron Boone, when asked “how’s it going” by Craig Carton at the start of his weekly appearance on Carton & Roberts on Friday. A lot has happened with the Yankees this week, from knocking around Shohei Ohtani in one inning to losing that game later on, but the biggest was that chairman and principal owner Hal Steinbrenner spoke to the media…and Boone revealed that he, too, speaks with Hal frequently.
“I probably talk to him a couple times a month at least, and he called me a few days ago to check in,” Boone said. “He’s here a lot of the homestands so I usually see him once a homestand; especially when he’s here, he’ll pop in my office and get a state of affairs from what we’re seeing.”
The skipper noted that “with some of what we’ve gone through this year, there’s been frustration at times,” but there has been no conversations about his status.
“Nothing about my future other than the support that I have from them,” Boone said. “That really hasn’t changed. Our conversations have been about figuring out how we can get better and correct some of the things that ail us.”
To do that, Boone wanted to play Thursday afternoon to forget Wednesday’s late loss as quickly as possible, but did note it was good to have a day off because “the bullpen was up against it.”
“We need to get back out there and play, but the other part is that we were really up against it yesterday from a bullpen standpoint,” he said. “But I tend to lean on let’s get back out there, get back on the horse, and get this thing righted.”
Boone “loved” that the team got together for a players’ only meeting, and thinks the team’s reaction to Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman feeling the need to speak to the media recently has been seen as a good thing by the squad.
“They got some things off their chest, and I think a lot of good things happened and hard conversations were had in that meeting,” Boone said. “We’re having a lot of those right now as a team, and hopefully, going through this will make us better as a team. Everyone is upset, because as much as our fan base expects, all of us in the clubhouse expect a ton, and we expect greatness. When we haven’t reached that point, or anything close to it, everyone is frustrated. We have to go out and do it, and that’s where we’re working hard to put a special run together.”
So what exactly has Boone seen this year?
“I think the first couple months we were struggling offensively. We had a good May based on our pitching and defense, and in June, the pitching took a bit of a step back and we lost some tough games,” he said. “But, it’s been encouraging to see the offense starting to find their stride recently.
We’re not even close to the offense I think we can be, but we have to sync up our game to where the pitching is supporting the offense, and we have to get that right if we’re going to get back into this.”
The Yankees enter the Subway Series in fourth place in the AL East with Friday’s game marking the halfway point (81 of 162), but they’re still within striking distance, and now is the time.
“We’re not in a good spot in the standings, but we’re not dead and buried, either,” Boone said. “We’re still in control of this and get to write the story – but as I’ve said, talk is cheap; we’re going to have to be a great second half team to get where we need to go.”
Listen to Boone’s entire appearance on Carton & Roberts below!
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