MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 26, 2024

Aaron Boone

Dodger Stadium

New York Yankees

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Talk about your mindset right now, potential adjustments for Game 2, and what the morale's like.

AARON BOONE: Morale's great. We're ready to roll. Our group all year, we talked about a lot, has been outstanding at bouncing back from tough moments or a tough game or a tough way to end a game. I would expect that for us today.

Win, lose, or draw, these guys will turn the page and ready to get after the ball today. It's a different ballgame. Yesterday we're facing Flaherty, today Yamamoto. A little bit of a different lineup we're going up against with Rodón.

Those things change the matchups a little bit, but we're excited to get after it tonight.

Q. How did Nestor bounce back physically from the appearance last night?

AARON BOONE: I think pretty good. We'll see. We'll see how he goes through catch play and all that. I'll talk to the pitching group and trainers and see where we're at.

Q. In a game like that, there's a ton of decisions, and obviously it ended in a big way. But is there any one thing, not necessarily that cost you, but that you thought about and said that's the one I might have wanted to have back?

AARON BOONE: Do I send Weave out with the lead for the third up in the ninth -- or in the tenth? That's the one that certainly I can make a case for in my head.

Worry a little bit about that third up with him, and where does that leave us if that doesn't go according to plan, and I haven't done the third up necessarily with him. So that's the one. But the other ones, I would double down on.

Q. In the aftermath of something like last night or Game 3 in Cleveland, is there something -- do you address the team fully, or is it more unspoken how you kind of handle the immediate aftermath of it?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, I hit a few guys and stuff. Guys said a few things when -- I loved the room last night, right after. It's like, you know, I think we did a lot of things really well. It was a great game to be a part of. I think there was an appreciation of that in there.

These guys are like, hey, it's a tough one. We know what we're capable of. We'll bounce back tomorrow. A couple guys addressed that. I liked what I saw in the room in the aftermath.

Q. Judge looks like he's missing some pitches he would normally get to. What are you seeing from him right now at the plate?

AARON BOONE: I thought his last at-bat, the Treinen at-bat was really good. It looked like Aaron when he's rolling to me. I thought he had really quiet takes. Treinen is about as tough of a matchup as you're going to get, especially when you have right-on-right. Thought he had really good looks at the slider, was slow, on time, then got his swing off on the pitch he popped up. He just missed that. As close as it is to a pop-up, that's close to being 450 straightaway center.

I really liked the at-bat from him, and hopefully that's something that kind of jump starts him into today too.

Q. Clarke was in here a little earlier talking about his dad piloting the team plane and the player family plane. What was it like when they let you fly the simulator in Atlanta?

AARON BOONE: It was great. It was really cool. Mr. Schmidt said I did a good job, so I got to land a plane. He said this is very, very real.

I was in there for probably 10, 15 minutes flying and then landing the plane and everything. It was something I was pretty fortunate to get a chance to do.

Q. What airport were you landing in in the simulator?

AARON BOONE: I think I was landing at LaGuardia, yeah.

Q. Have you decided on a Game 4 starter?

AARON BOONE: Luis.

Q. And why did you guys, I guess, take a little longer?

AARON BOONE: I didn't know we did.

Q. You've had Luis Rojas on your staff for a few years now. Do you think he should and/or will get another shot to manage along the way?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, I know he's in the running -- I think he did some interviews last winter. Luis is such a great baseball man, great person. I feel really, really blessed to have had him on my staff here for the last few years. So, yeah, I think that day will come for him again.

Q. One more question about Judge's at-bats. Obviously you're asked a lot about Judge in the postseason as a topic because obviously it's happening in the postseason. But when he's cold like a normal person for a week or two or whatever at a time, is this what his at-bats look like? A little more chase, maybe missing some pitches that he'd normally hit?

AARON BOONE: Yes.

Q. That's what he looks like when he's a little cold?

AARON BOONE: That's the nature of the beast with hitting, just a little off timing-wise or whatever, yeah.

Q. What is it that makes Jazz such a good base runner?

AARON BOONE: He's got great speed. I think he plays the cat and mouse game pretty good. At times when you think maybe he's not aware of things, he's very in tune with what he wants to do and paying close attention to what's going on around him. But his speed is a separator.

Q. When he gets on there with Treinen, who can be so deliberate to the plate, are you thinking that's a spot for him to do some damage in the tenth last night?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Hopefully another one of the good things coming out of last night was Jazz getting a little bit settled. I thought having some really good at-bats, having a big impact, playing well in the field. He's one of those guys that can be a game changer and take over a game for you.

Q. Kahnle is up to 56 straight change-ups now. That's obviously his strength. And what do you think makes it so hard for pitchers to pick up and square up over and over?

AARON BOONE: It's just the arm action and the movement of the pitch. He's really over the top, so rips it, and the arm speed throws you off. It just doesn't quite get there.

Obviously Shohei put a good swing on him, but for the most part, if he executes his change-up where he wants in the strike zone or chase and gets the right movement on it, it's even -- obviously guys are looking for it, and it's still very hard to hit just because of the deception and the delivery and the arm speed.

Q. Do you think you've been around an individual off-speed pitch like that that's so difficult even at such a frequency for hitters to pick up?

AARON BOONE: I didn't like facing Johan and his change-up because he really ripped it over the top and the arm speed, so you could look for it. It was still hard to gauge the speed of it.

Q. Aaron, what was your impression on Yamamoto when you guys faced him in June? And what do you think the challenges will be for today?

AARON BOONE: I think he had one of his best starts of the year, stuff-wise especially. We noticed it was -- I forget now, but at the time, it was like the first outing to that point that he had thrown more than one pitch over a certain miles an hour, and he threw like 20 of them.

So the stuff was electric that night. I think he ended up getting hurt right after that, and I know it's been -- he's had some dynamic ones here lately, and he's had some ones where it hasn't been as good. So we'll be ready for -- I would expect him to be good. I'm sure he'll have a lot of adrenaline going. We've got to take advantage when he's in the heart of the strike zone.

Q. One last thing about Jazz. Him at third base, he played shortstop coming all the way up. Where is he right now versus where you thought he was going to be once you made that decision to put him there?

AARON BOONE: I think right away he was really good. Again, there's been some growing pains along the way, like every now and then just not having the experience of playing over there has shown up. But on balance I would say -- I don't know how many games he played at third. What is it, 50 games-ish? I would say -- if you matched him up around the league and how everyone panned out defensively, metric-wise or whatever, I would say he's near the top. Like he was that good over there and has been that good over there.

I think he's taken to it well. I think he's enjoying it. He's got a lot of skills.

Q. Giancarlo's last four home runs have been with two strikes. What makes him so good in that spot when other guys are cutting down their swing in a two strike approach? What makes him so good right there?

AARON BOONE: Just on a roll right now. Has a great plan at the plate for whoever he's facing and what he's looking for and not missing when he gets a pitch.

Q. What is the state of the bullpen for tonight after the usage in Game 1?

AARON BOONE: We're in good shape. Gerrit going into the seventh was pretty short for the most part with most guys. Weave got his five outs but was pretty pitch efficient, so we should be good.