Aaron Boone, Yankees' frustration mounts after Subway Series sweep by Mets

NEW YORK – Gerrit Cole faltered badly, the Subway Series was a complete loss and the New York Yankees’ crisis deepened Wednesday night before an angry full house at Yankee Stadium.

“We’re (ticked) off. We’ve got to play better,’’ said manager Aaron Boone, after a devastating 12-3 loss to the New York Mets. “This has gone on long enough.’’

Soon enough, we were fully transported back to Aug. 20, 2022, when Boone emphasized how “it’s right in front of us’’ by slamming his right hand on a table.

At that point, the Yankees had gone 12-25 after a 61-23 start, but still led the AL East by seven games.

These 2024 Yankees are now 10-22 since a 50-22 start, but they still lead the AL wild card and only trail the division-leading Orioles by 1.5 games – due to Baltimore’s shaky second half.

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Once more, Boone repeated that “we’ve got it right in front of us,’’ his voice rising, his language punctuated with a few rare postgame expletives.

“We’re getting our teeth kicked in and we’ve got to change it,’’ said Boone, confident they would. “We’re a really good team that’s played (lousy) of late. We need to be better.

“We’re (ticked) off in there, we’ve got a lot of pride in there, we’ve got a lot of expectations,’’ said Boone. “I also know we’re competing our (butts) off.

“No one’s going to pull us out of this but us.’’

Shades of the disappointing 2022 Yankees' season

The 2022 Yankees had Cole and AL MVP Aaron Judge, and a team that was ultimately swept out of the AL Championship Series by the Houston Astros.

These 2024 Yankees now have Cole, seven starts off the injured list (with a 5.40 ERA), another MVP-type season from Judge, the immensely talented Juan Soto, and a subpar cast since mid-June.

“It comes down to what we’re doing on the field, and it’s not great right now,’’ said Judge, emphasizing the need to stay confident, while admitting “there’s certain times we’re hanging our head a little bit.

“And you just need a little kick in the butt,’’ said Judge. “We’ve got the guys in this room to flip the switch and get us back to where we need to be.

“Don’t overthink it, don’t panic. But it comes down to we’ve got to do our job and we’re not doing it right now.’’

At a moment when they needed a stopper, Cole gave up three homers and ended any momentum from Gleyber Torres’ leadoff homer and Juan Soto’s 443-foot solo blast off lefty Sean Manaea.

In all four Subway Series wins, the Mets used lefty starters, further exposing a Yankee weakness, and the Yanks went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position (they’re batting .163 in that category over the last 13 games).

“I think the effort is there, but this is the big leagues,’’ said Cole. “You’ve got to perform.’’

Aaron Boone: "We're in control of the story''

Meanwhile, the Orioles’ serious rotation issues are catching up; they’ve lost eight of their last 11 games (including Wednesday against the woeful Marlins).

And the third place Red Sox have dropped five of their last six (including Wednesday against the woeful Rockies).

“We don’t even worry about the Orioles,’’ said Soto. “We worry about what we’ve got in here.’’

Five days away from MLB’s trade deadline, the Yankees have a pressing need for a corner infield bat, bullpen help and the presence of rehabbing hitters Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Dominguez.

Boosting this club is GM Brian Cashman’s job, while Boone is responsible for making “sure we’re walking through those doors every day with an edge and an expectation that today’s the day we can get it rolling.

“We hold the pen, we’re in control of the story,’’ said Boone. “That hasn’t changed. But we’ve got to play better or it doesn’t matter.’’