Yankees enter Thursday riding a 13-game win streak at the Stadium
Manager Aaron Boone #17 of the Yankees runs to the dugout during the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees have been winning just about everywhere they go this season, but their performance at home is becoming historic.
They entered Thursday’s game against the Rays riding a 13-game winning streak in the Bronx, the longest ever in the new version of the building. That matched the runs made by the team in 1962 and 1973.
“We certainly have a homefield advantage,” Aaron Boone said before the Yankees attempted to extend the streak to 14, which would be one shy of the most since 1961.
“I think the ballpark plays to our favor and some of our strengths,” Boone added. “I know our guys love playing here. Coupled with it being the Yankees and Yankee Stadium, there is always that feeling of energy and walking into this place, but I think when we’re playing the way we are and we’ve gotten off to this start it does feel like the energy is at an even greater level this year.”
Boone said that is especially noticeable after playing in front of hardly any fans in 2020 and with some limitations on attendance in 2021 due to the pandemic.
“The start we’ve gotten off to, it feels like the fans have played a big role in that,” he said. “It’s been fun to be here playing in the kind of games we have. You’ve felt the crowd here, and that’s been pretty cool.”
Notes & quotes: Aroldis Chapman (Achilles) had a routine throwing session in the outfield before Thursday’s game. The reliever threw off a mound Tuesday for the first time since being placed on the 15-day injured list on May 24 and is scheduled to have another mound-based workout on Saturday … Boone had little to offer in the way of an update on RHP Stephen Ridings (Commack/St. Anthony’s HS) who has been sidelined with a right shoulder impingement since spring training. Boone called it a “slow-moving” recovery … Boone said he would start stumping for Yankees to receive All-Star Game nods in the coming weeks. “We could have a lot,” he said of Yankees on the AL squad. “We should have a lot.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
