Aaron Boone Says Yankees Can Still Save Season amid Struggles: 'I Get It Looks Bleak'

Having lost five straight games after being swept by the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is doing his best to keep a positive outlook for the rest of the season.

Speaking to reporters after Wednesday's 2-0 loss, Boone talked about having time to salvage things with 41 games left to play.

"The game is still littered with examples of teams going on unlikely runs," the Yankees skipper said. "I get it looks bleak and I don't want to even suggest that we're in a position to even talk about a streak like that. We've got to fix our own house and get going. But there's a lot of season left, too, and we've got to look at it that way."

The Yankees were shutout in each of their final two games against the Braves. They have fallen under .500 (60-61) for the first time this season and trail the Baltimore Orioles by 14 games in the American League East.

This is the latest into a season the Bronx Bombers have had a losing record since 1995.

Since the All-Star break, New York has an 11-19 record and been outscored by 34 runs (148 to 114). The only teams with a worse record in the second half of the season are the Chicago White Sox (10-18), Miami Marlins (10-19), Oakland Athletics (8-20) and Arizona Diamondbacks (8-21).

Wednesday marked the seventh time the Yankees have been shutout this season and fourth time since July 7. They are on the verge of posting a losing record for the third consecutive month after going 11-12 in June and 10-15 in July.

Their .231 team batting average is the second-worst in MLB, ahead of only the A's (.223). They rank 23rd in runs scored (514) and 24th in weighted on-base average (.306).

Even though the Yankees are done playing a Braves team that has the best record, it's not like their schedule gets significantly easier the rest of the way. They still have 22 games left against teams with winning records, starting with a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Friday.

It's certainly not impossible for the Yankees to go on a run that gets them back into playoff contention, but time is running out quickly for a team that has played poorly for several months. They are currently sixth in the AL wild card standings, 6.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the final postseason spot.