Aaron Boone’s tone shift shows just how dire Yankees’ situation is now

ARLINGTON, Texas — This is generally the time of year, or at least the kind of stretch, when Aaron Boone has been known to offer some version of the familiar refrain: It’s all right in front of us.

Except that has been missing from his vocabulary during this road trip from hell, perhaps because what is right in front of the Yankees is a growing list of teams in the playoff race.

Instead, the eighth-year manager, who almost always tries to display the even-keeled nature he wants his team to emulate, has had a shift in tone with more urgency in recent days as this two-month stretch of sub-.500 play by the Yankees grows deeper and the number of remaining games grows smaller.

“The season’s getting shorter in a hurry,” Boone said after the latest body blow of a loss on Monday night. “So it’s no time for excuses and feeling bad. I know everyone feels like crap, but we got to go take it. Haven’t been able to do that on this road trip so far. But we got to do it better.”