As slump rolls on, Boone insists Yanks 'right there'

NEW YORK — The 2024 Yankees are, so far, a club defined by two contradictory chapters. There was the chapter before June 15, when they plowed the competition to the best record in the majors. Then there is the current chapter in which they’ve posted the second-worst record in baseball since that date, only better than the playing-for-the-distant-future Chicago White Sox.

Wednesday’s 12-3 loss to the New York Mets marked a new low for the Yankees.

The Mets, coincidentally owners of the best record in the majors since June 15, completed a four-game Subway Series season sweep at Yankee Stadium, which was half-filled with Mets fans by the end of the rout. It is the first time the Mets have swept the season series from the Yankees since 2013. The Mets outscored the Yankees 36-14 in the four games.

Gerrit Cole, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, was pounded for six runs, including three homers, over 5⅔ innings. The bullpen was worse. The offense was again meek.

Afterward, Yankees manager Aaron Boone vented his frustration with his team’s tailspin while emphatically insisting he believes the team will reverse course.

“We got to play better, OK?” Boone said. “We have it right in front of us. We’re a really good team that has played s—ty of late. We need to be better.

“I’m not going to define stretch, this or that. We got to go win, right? And we’re right there. We’re watching other teams struggle around us. We know we got to be better. We’re pissed off in there. We got a lot of pride in there. We got a lot of expectation in there. So, stretch, slump, recent, I don’t give a s—. It’s we got to play better the rest of the way.”

The Yankees were 50-22 when they beat the Boston Red Sox on June 14. Since then, they are 10-22 while the Mets have gone 22-11. The Yankees (60-44) have squandered games late. They’ve been trounced early. They’ve declined in every facet. But the offense’s struggles with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, arguably the two best hitters in the world, in the lineup every day are the most glaring.

Since June 15, the Yankees’ 2 and 3 holes in the batting order — where Soto and Judge reside — have produced a 1.061 OPS. That ranks first in the majors. The other seven spots have combined for a .625 OPS, again only better than the dismal White Sox.

The Mets (53-48) exploited the weakness in their 3-2 win Tuesday by strategically pitching around Judge. The slugger was walked four times, once intentionally, in his first four plate appearances before striking out in the ninth inning.

On Wednesday, Judge said emerging from the rough patch “comes down to that confidence level,” indicating that he believes the team’s assuredness has taken a blow during the downturn.

“You can read body language sometimes, and there’s certain times where, you know, we’re hanging our head a little bit — and you just need a little kick in the butt to get it going again,” he said.

For all their struggles, the Yankees left for Boston for a three-game weekend series Thursday night just 1.5 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the AL East with 58 games remaining. The Yankees are expected to make moves before Tuesday’s trade deadline to upgrade the roster down the stretch. They still employ Soto, Judge and Cole, three of the sport’s best players, with an accomplished group of veterans around them.

As Boone often says, it’s still in front of the Yankees. The question, nearly six weeks into this ugly stretch, is whether they will turn the page to a third chapter in time.

“Nothing I can say matters,” Boone said. “You got to do it. I’m confident we will. I know we will pull out of this, but that’s all it is right now, is me saying it to you. So, we got to be better.”