CLEVELAND — As the Boston Red Sox keep piling up wins entering the All-Star Break, one of their rivals has been paying attention.
Although New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone hasn’t been on the hunt for daily updates about the recently hot Red Sox, it still has been hard for him to escape news about how well they have been playing.
Asked before Sunday’s first-half finale against the Cleveland Indians if he did any scoreboard-watching as far as the American League East-leading Red Sox were concerned, Boone smiled and said: “I see that they win every day.”
The response elicited laughter from reporters in the Yankees’ dugout.
Boone contends that despite being familiar with how successful the Red Sox have been lately, his focus remains on his squad.
“I don’t worry about it that much. At this point, I just kind of smile at it,” Boone said.
Since losing two of three to the Yankees in a series in the Bronx two weeks ago, the Red Sox have rattled off 11 wins in their past 12 games entering Sunday’s series finale with the Blue Jays. That stretch includes a 10-game winning streak that was snapped Friday.
New York has gone 8-5 since that Boston series, ahead of play Sunday. After being tied for the division lead with Boston following the rivals’ last meeting, the Yankees came into Sunday’s action trailing the Red Sox by 3½ games.
“The bottom line is we don’t control anything, and it’s July,” Boone said. “There’s a long way and a lot of baseball left to play, and there’s nothing you can do to worry about it. We’re so uber-focused on us, and in the end, if we take care of business and play to our capabilities, we’ll put ourselves in a great position.
“I’m worried about us going out and playing our best. If we do that, hopefully we’ll get to where we want to go.”