TORONTO – It was nearly three years ago that Aaron Boone furiously slammed his right palm on a table during a news conference, jolting a plastic water bottle into the air as part of an unfiltered response as he declared: “It’s right in front of us!”
Boone selected a different method of motivating his team on Thursday night, fresh off an 8-5 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre that completed a four-game sweep. Calmer and more measured, Boone’s brief closed-door remarks included a reminder that his Yankees are “the best team in the league,” according to infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.
“We knew we were going to hit a speed bump,” said Chisholm, who summarized Boone’s message as: “Just block out the noise and go out there when we get back home in New York [on Friday], and just do what we do.”
The Yankees held a seven-game lead in the American League East as recently as May 28. But they have lost 14 of their past 20 to lose their grasp on the division.
Toronto (49-38) moved into the top spot with Thursday’s outcome; the Yanks (48-39) are tied with the Rays (48-39) for second place.
Boone said he wants his players to be “unfazed” despite their slide.
“I don’t want us to flinch,” Boone said. “I want us to come here, ready to prepare. Prepare, compete, win. We’re preparing to go out there and compete our [tails] off, and I know that if we do that well enough over time, we’ll win.
“So trust me, when you’re living this life – whether it’s [as a] manager, coaches, staff, certainly players – it’s hard. It’s not fun. We work really hard every day and all season long. It’s about shaking hands at the end of the day.”
Yankees captain Aaron Judge voiced similar thoughts, preaching the importance of a steady outlook.
“You can’t panic. It’s not going to help the situation,” Judge said. “We’ve got work to do. … We came up here [to Toronto], things didn’t go our way. We’ve got to focus on a big series coming up with the Mets. All we can do is just keep focusing on the present and the game that we’ve got in front of us.”
Yet maintaining that mindset is easier said than done, according to Luke Weaver, who acknowledged frustration with his recent performance.
“I’ll be very raw and honest that I do feel slightly fazed right now,” Weaver said. “But that’s not going to escalate to a point where it’s going to affect me further. … Sometimes the truth hurts, and we’ve just got to do a better job.”
As Clarke Schmidt correctly noted, summer swoons like this have been a regular occurrence in recent seasons.
“In my career as a Yankee, I can think about this happening almost every single year,” Schmidt said. “It feels like around June and July where we kind of grind a little bit, and we’re going through it. We’re being tested, for sure.”
The 2022 Yankees skidded in August (10-18), and the ’23 team played under .500 from June through August (31-45). Even last year’s roster was underwater from June through July (25-26) – and that team reached the World Series.
“When your back is against the wall and you have some injuries here and there … you’re going to go through stretches where you lose games,” Schmidt said. “Right now we’re battling uphill, but we understand that is going to even out and the ball will start rolling in our favor.”
Boone says he continues to believe the current team is “equipped” to handle that swing.
“We will stick together through this and embrace the adversity of it,” Boone said. “This will make us stronger as we navigate through the season. I know nobody likes hearing that, but that’s what this is. We know this week is coming for us. And it will make us stronger, especially as we rally together.”