Why 1st-place Yankees aren’t close to satisfied at quarter mark

Aaron Boone, Brett Gardner break down why the Yankees haven’t played their best baseball yet.

NEW YORK — Aaron Boone smiled and gathered his thoughts.

“How many wins do we have?” he said.

The first-year Yankees manager had been asked if the team could have played any better through its first quarter of the season following a 6-2 win over the A’s at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

“Look,” he said. “I’m really excited with where we’re at. But it’s a long, long way to go.”

The Yankees are on pace to win 113 games — one short of the club record set by the 1998 team, which won a World Series.  They’re tied with the Red Sox atop the American League East and for baseball’s best record.

They’re off Monday and will start a three-game series against the Nationals in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

On Sunday, just about all the stars chipped in.

Giancarlo Stanton ended the day with 999 hits after going 4-for-4 with a solo home run, a double, a two-run single and another hit. Aaron Judge was 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Luis Severino wasn’t dominant but he got dominant results: six innings, one run.

Brett Gardner, whose bat has come alive lately, went 2-for-5 with a run. 

“There’s room for improvement for myself and some other guys as well,” Gardner said. “So we’ve just got to keep working, continue to get better.”

The Yankees started the season 9-9. That wasn’t great, particularly considering the World Series expectations that landed on them follow last year’s run to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series and the arrival of Stanton, the 2017 National League MVP.

Since then? They’re 21-3. Their record is a blowout football score.

They finished their nine-game homestand 7-2. They have won seven straight series.

They matched the 1994 team, which posted the franchise’s second-best mark through 40 games.

“We got off to a little bit of a rough start the first week or two. Since then, we’ve played really good baseball. Boston won today, so what’s that put us, tied with them for first place? Tied with them for the best record in baseball. I can’t complain too much with where we’re at but we think there’s some room for improvement, especially from me and from other guys in the lineup but I think for the most part we’ve played pretty good baseball and I’m just excited that it’s not 35 degrees out anymore.”

Said Boone, “From a record standpoint, we’re obviously in a very good position. But you always temper it with a quarter of the season, even though that sounds like a good measuring stick now, it also tells you that there’s an awful lot of baseball to play. We just look forward to getting on that train (Sunday night) and putting our nose back in and diving into the (Nationals) and get prepared for them as best we can and I know our guys will do that. I’m pleased where we are, considering all we’ve been through as a club. But I also temper that with there’s a lot of baseball to be played.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.