Now Aaron must win

eye,” Boone said. “Like he ‘Jedi-mind tricked’ me or something. But it’s good to see him. I know him and competing against him for a long time. It’s just these first days wishing guys well, and he’s been a good one.”

During the game, Boone could be heard on YES Network yelling “outstanding Birdie!” to Greg Bird in one of his at-bats. “That’s ball talk. That’s my whole life,” Boone said. “I’ll throw things out there. I don’t think I’m going to be overly rah-rah or anything like that, but you’ll hear me.”

“He was great. Real positive. Real upbeat,” Bird said. “It’s a good atmosphere in the clubhouse and in the dugout.”

That certainly goes a long way, but in the end, it’s about wins and losses. Spring training is a time to set the foundation. And, for Boone, in a sense, it’s about learning on the fly, so when the games actually matter, he’s prepared.

“As I’ve talked about from Day 1, it’s just the mechanics of it all,” Boone said. “Obviously a spring training game, it’s a little bit different. But one of the things for me in spring training is really getting on the same page communicating with my coaches, whether it’s signs, whether it’s through comments, whether it’s just through nonverbal understanding of each other.

“Those are the things that for me personally will be something that I really want to iron out and button up here over the next five or so weeks,” Boone said.

Yankees fans hope there are a lot more postgame handshakes in Aaron Boone’s future.