MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 28, 2024

Aaron Boone

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Dodgers - 4, Yankees - 2

Q. The offense really has not produced yet this series, just 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position. Why do you think it has been a struggle for those guys?

AARON BOONE: Just haven't done that, and we've hit a couple balls in the seats probably in the first few, and then Dugy tonight to finish it there, but we've got to find a way right now.

I feel like Buehler and Yamamoto did a good job of taking the lead and really attacking and getting ahead. Because I felt like in both games Yamamoto and Buehler, early on, we were making them work a little bit. They were a little bit in and out of the zone. Then once they got that lead, they did a good job of attacking and kind of grabbing the count leverage.

We've got to find a way to grab one. We've got to find a way to hopefully try to get a lead. Either way, we've got to just really focus on next play and trying to get a win.

Q. Aaron, do you think that Judge is at the point here where the struggle is so complete that he's not going to be able to bust out of it at this point?

AARON BOONE: No, I don't believe that.

Q. What do you think he has to do to make it happen?

AARON BOONE: Come ready to go tomorrow. He's Aaron Judge, and just continue to work and hopefully get on time and connect on some.

Q. You guys had one of the best offenses during the regular season. Have you just been surprised with how the Dodgers have neutralized you guys?

AARON BOONE: A little bit. Again, it's the story of a few games in there where playing a little bit behind, and credit to them that they've been able to hold us down and control us.

Then when we have had some opportunities, we haven't cashed in. Ultimately, that's what this comes about. You've got to take advantage, put one in the seats with a runner or two on and play with the lead. Or when you do get those opportunities, they're not as frequent as maybe sometimes during the season, you've got to take advantage of it.

Q. Just what did you see on the Stanton send, and were you good with the aggression there?

AARON BOONE: We're going to challenge Teoscar there a little bit, especially when he's moving to the right. Credit to him, he had a good throw. I thought G had a pretty good jump and move around third base. Tough when you're behind a few there, but a perfect throw is able to get him there. I'll go back and look at it some more, though.

Q. Only one team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in World Series history. How do you like your chances heading into Game 4?

AARON BOONE: We're trying to get a game tomorrow. Okay? That's where our focus lies. Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world. But right now it's about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there. But we've got to grab one first.

Q. What did you see from Clarke Schmidt? Starting off with a four-pitch walk there.

AARON BOONE: Stuff was good, just not the command and control. And against that team especially -- like us, if you're not in the strike zone, they're not going to go chase you.

I just think he had a little bit of a hard time harnessing a little bit. Again, he made some pitches to kind of -- after the two-run homer, to at least limit some damage, but it was a struggle, I think, finding that next level of command for him tonight.

Q. With the Dodgers going with the bullpen game tomorrow and you seeing so many arms today, what does that do to help you guys out?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, hopefully that helps us a little bit. Again, you hope -- you pull little things -- Rizz having some good at-bats to get on base, set the table a little bit there, Dugy getting into one.

If nothing else, I think we extended their guys quite a bit. Like most of their bullpen guys came in and threw a lot of pitches. Hopefully that little bit of familiarity serves us well going into tomorrow, but it's going to be a challenge with all their arms. Again, we've got to get after it.

Q. Just with Freddie Freeman on the other side, he came into the series before when they were playing the Mets, and he could barely run. He's getting triples and hitting home runs. Have you kind of been surprised by what you've seen from Freeman in this series?

AARON BOONE: Obviously we all know how great of a player Freddie Freeman is. I think clearly having those few days following their Championship Series probably served him well and helped him, most notably probably in the batter's box. He's getting off swings you're typically used to seeing Freddie get off where maybe that wasn't happening in the previous rounds with the injury.

He seems to be in a better spot with that, and when that's the case against a guy like him as well as some others on there, we've got to make sure we're really executing.

I think Clarke had him 1-2 there, trying to go back door, I think, with the cutter, and just yanked it, middle in and kind of right into his barrel. We've got to execute better than that.