MIAMI – Aaron Boone has gone from potential goat to hero and back again throughout the playoffs. But Boone hasn’t dwelled on his successes – like his walkoff home run in Game 7 of ALCS that left Red Sox fans crying in their beer for another year – nor has he dwelled on his failures, like his strikeout in the 11th inning last night when the Yankees had the bases loaded and one out.
“You’ve got to keep turning the page,” Boone said. “There’s no time to dwell on a good play or a bad play. You have to make the next play.”
Boone’s post-season book is full of pages that could make up Hollywood scripts for triumph and failure. He came to the plate in the 11th against Braden Looper with a chance to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead in this World Series. But Looper struck out Boone and then got Nick Johnson to pop to third.
“He throws hard,” Boone said of Looper. “He just kept running it in there real good. I couldn’t chip him.”
He struggled through the ALCS getting just two hits in his first 16 at-bats, including seven strikeouts. Then Boone placed himself alongside The Babe, Bucky, and Buckner in Yankees-Red Sox lore with his 11th-inning walkoff home run.
Tuesday night’s Game 3 was another rags-to-riches story for Boone. With the Yankees already trailing 1-0 and Josh Beckett perfect in the early going, Boone booted a routine grounder from Pudge Rodriguez in the third. It could have opened the door for a big Florida inning, had Mike Mussina not been as dominant as he was.
When Boone stepped to the plate in the ninth, he was 0-for-3, including a strikeout looking, and the Yankees were clinging to a 2-1 lead. Boone slammed a leadoff home run off Chad Fox that gave the Yankees a two-run cushion. Bernie Williams put the game out of reach with a three-run homer later in the inning.
In last night’s 4-3 loss to the Marlins in 12 innings, Boone went 0-for-4. He drove in the Yankees’ first run with a sac fly in the first. Boone has two hits in three World Series games and just three hits in his prior five playoff games. Two of those hits, however, were home runs.
He becomes the first member of the Boone family to hit a World Series home run. His uncle Ray, father Bob, and brother Bret have combined for 31 World Series plate appearances without a homer. They are one of the reasons Boone has been able to not look back.
“They’re a major influence on who I am but I think [putting things behind you is] something you learn in this game, playing this game and experience things, the ups and downs,” Boone said. “You have to be able to get yourself off the mat a lot of times. You can’t really dwell on things.”