NEW YORK â Bulletin board material? New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone didnât think so.
Boone said ânot reallyâ when asked if he believed third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave the Kansas City Royals their new rallying cry when Chisholm said he thought they âjust got luckyâ while beating the Yankees, 4-2, in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday night.
Boone added that he disagreed with Chisholmâs assessment.
âI donât think they got lucky,â the manager said. âI think they did a lot of really good things, and came in here and beat us last night.â
Here was the full exchange between a reporter and Chisholm:
Reporter: âHow different does the series feel now after Game 2 compared to Game 1?â
Chisholm: âStill feels the same that weâre going to win it, you know. I donât feel like anybody feels different, you know. Weâre going to go out there and do our things. We still donât feel like any team is better than us. Like you said, we had a lot of missed opportunities tonight. So, they just got lucky.â
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his first career postseason home run tonight. The third baseman recaps Game 2 with @M_Marakovits and the rest of the media. pic.twitter.com/fvEd8uKURo
â YES Network (@YESNetwork) October 8, 2024
The Yankees are 9-for-43 (.209) with runners on base so far and 3-for-19 (.158) with runners in scoring position.
Boone added that he believed Chisholm was referring to how the Yankees had hit into some âtough luck.â
âThere were some hard-hit balls,â Boone said. âAnd so that line of questioning continued to where Jazz can be colorful sometimes and just in his head, because of the confidence he has in himself and in our group, âHey, they got lucky.â
âBut I donât think that was the case. I think they played two really good games against us and earned themselves a victory (Monday) night.â
The comment came a game after Chisholm made a quip about how the Los Angeles Angels are second fiddle to the Dodgers in their market. In Game 1, left fielder Alex Verdugo had a big game, and Chisholm referenced how Verdugo has played in the past for big market teams.
âHeâs played in big cities before,â Chisholm said at the time. âHe played in Boston. He played in LA â and Iâm not talking about the Angels.â
On Monday night, Chisholm was also asked if he felt the Yankees had missed a lot of scoring opportunities.
âWe all think that way,â he said. âWe know that the game is hard. This isnât an easy game to play. For me, itâs just, weâre going to come back and fight the next day.â
Chisholm wasnât the only player in the series engaging in some postgame back and forth. Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia, who went 4 for 5 with an RBI on Monday, posted the following on X after the game.
Don’t celebrate too earlyđ https://t.co/T4GyFapOFO
â Maikel Garcia (@maikeljose06) October 8, 2024
So far, neither team has gotten much out of their biggest stars. Judge, the runaway AL MVP favorite, has gone 1-for-7 with two walks and four strikeouts. Meanwhile, Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. has gone 0-for-10. Witt seems like a lock to finish second to Judge for MVP.
On Wednesday, the Yankees will start righty Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) vs. righty Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) in Game 3.
(Top photo of Aaron Boone: Elsa/Getty Images)