Yankees' Aaron Boone addresses viral ejection at White Sox

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained Tuesday what led to his ejection during Monday's 5-1 loss at the Chicago White Sox that went viral amid the club's latest woes. 

"It was one of those, [it] kinda just brewed all game," Boone said during his latest appearance on the "Talkin' Yanks" podcast, as shared by John Healy of Audacy. "[I] was a little upset...It was a buildup of the whole game." 

Home-plate umpire Laz Diaz tossed Boone in the top half of the eighth inning of Monday's contest after the latter used some not-safe-for-work language to complain about the fact that rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes. The skipper then got his money's worth when he appeared to imitate Diaz's strike three punchout to the delight of viewers watching at home and those re-living the moment via social media. 

Individuals such as Mike Rosenstein of the New York Post and Audacy's Ryan Chichester have since mentioned that the data shows Diaz missed numerous balls-and-strikes calls that went against the Yankees on Monday night. Nevertheless, Boone said Tuesday he "was actually trying to bring (the argument with Diaz) down a couple times" before the 50-year-old lost his cool. 

"Laz was giving it back to me pretty hard," Boone continued. "I go way back with Laz. I know he’s not very happy with me right now. We both basically came up together. Yeah, he was giving it back to me pretty good." 

Boone also understands he's not escaping this umpiring crew as his Yankees enter Tuesday's matchup at the White Sox five-and-a-half games back in the race for a wild-card playoff spot.

"Hopefully it’s not too personal," Boone said about how Diaz may or may not react. "Some guys don’t take it that way. So, we’ll see." 

Boone leads the American League with six ejections on the season, but such outbursts didn't prevent his Yankees from ending Monday's MLB action sitting dead last by themselves in the AL East standings. It remains to be seen if Boone will receive his second suspension of the year for his conduct on Monday.