Aaron Boone after New York Yankees blanked again - 'We should be ticked off right now'

NEW YORK — After another lackluster performance by the New York Yankees in their 4-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Friday night, manager Aaron Boone took his team to task.

«We should be ticked off right now and we need to start playing better. Plain and simple,» Boone said after the Yankees' fifth shutout loss in the month of August, most in the majors. New York came into the month having been shut out just a total of six times.

«You pour a lot into trying to shake hands at the end of the day, and we've been able to do that on balance on a really high clip this year. We've hit a rough patch and we've got to dig ourselves out,» Boone said. «We can sit here, and I can keep answering questions and talk about it… but we've got to go do it. And the good news is we've got all the pieces in that room to do that. I know that's coming. I know it's going to happen, but it really sucks going through it.»

After their loss to Toronto in the second matchup of a four-game set, the Yankees have a 5-12 record in August, being held to two or fewer runs in eight of those games. Only two teams, the Nationals (5-12) and Tigers (4-13), have fared as poorly this month.

The Yankees were widely considered the best team in baseball after an inordinate 44-16 (.733) record in their first 60 games of the year. They have gone 29-31 over their last 60 games, becoming the first team in MLB history with a .700 win percentage across their first 60 decisions to then go under .500 in their next 60 decisions, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

And it is precisely that track record Boone cited when talking about his confidence in his team.

«We've done it most of the year. I have total faith in that room and those players,» Boone said. «We've got