Boone out to let lying Astros sleep
TAMPA — A year ago, the Yankees were fuming. After an MLB report confirmed that the Astros had used an electronic system to steal signs and relay them in real-time to hitters, the Bombers’ players were ticked. They felt they had been robbed in the 2017 ALCS and probably in the 2019 ALCS as well.
And they were openly talking about it.
Today, A.J. Hinch, who managed those Astros teams, will be at George M. Steinbrenner Field with his new team, the Tigers. It will be the first time the Yankees will face the targets of their anger.
Aaron Boone, however, doesn’t want to drag up old animosities now.
“Look, we spoke about this at length last year, and dealt with it,” Boone said Sunday after the Yankees’ 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays. “I think you got me and several people on the record about our feelings toward it. I have beyond moved on from it (and) our focus is on getting ready to hopefully go out and play in a championship season.”
“That’s the extent of it. I’m not going to get caught up in looking back from a couple years ago, and this guy and that guy,” Boone said. “I’ve very much moved on.”
Boone may be taking the high road — he and Hinch have been friends for years and he said Sunday he has already had several conversations with him since Hinch’s return from a one-year suspension for his role in the cheating scandal — but the players may not be so generous.
Aaron Judge, who played Sunday and will not play today, was just glad he didn’t have to face that.
“I’ve got the day off so I don’t think with COVID protocols we are supposed to be out on the field,” Judge said with a smile. “So I think I’ll be missing out on that.”
The Yankees did not face the Astros in 2020 because the COVID-shortened season featured regional schedules. They are scheduled to play the Astros in the Bronx in early May.
NEW BALLS
Judge said the Yankees hitters have noticed some difference this spring in the balls that have been altered by MLB to cut down on their “bounciness” off the bat.
Judge talked about a fly ball he hit in Sunday’s game.
“It went a little farther than I thought. I got underneath it. I knew I missed it and I watched it get near the track. I said, ‘Oh, maybe somebody snuck in an old baseball,’” Judge said with a laugh. “But uh, no. It’s what I expected. We kind of noticed a little difference in (batting practice). Certain balls you kind of turn on or go opposite fields and they aren’t going the same. In the game I really didn’t notice any difference.”
Rawlings has loosened the tension on the first of three wool wrappings within the ball. The company’s research believes this adjustment will bring down the “bounce” slightly. The ball is also 2.8 grams lighter, but the same size. According to the AP, MLB does not anticipate the weight change to affect pitchers’ velocity.
The AP reported that MLB sent out a memo to all 30 clubs last month citing an independent lab that found the new balls will fly one to two feet shorter on balls hit over 375 feet.
MLB’s balls are hand-sewn by workers at the Rawlings factory in Costa Rica, which can result in minor deviations in production.
FRAZIER FINDING WAY
Clint Fraier may have earned the starting left-field job, but it didn’t necessarily come with a clean slate from the fans. When a single dropped in front of him in the fourth inning Sunday, allowing a Blue Jays run to score, the small crowd grumbled. A fan yelled “use your glove, Clint.”
Boone said he felt the sun contributed to that play.
“I don’t know if he should have got that one ball that was hit off the end (of the bat) in front of (him). He came in and actually made a really good throw to home plate,” Boone said.