BOSTON — As a kid who grew up in nearby Walpole in the early 2000s, Cam Schlittler acknowledges that the Yankees - Red Sox rivalry is not quite what it used to be.
But …
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“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Schlittler said with a chuckle Tuesday inside the visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park, knowing full well that he has something to do with that.
Since dominating his hometown team in the AL wild-card series last October, Schlittler has done his best to stoke the flames of the rivalry, making for what should be an entertaining first start here for him Thursday night in the series finale. Much of that has centered around the social-media harassment his family received in the lead-up to his playoff start against the Red Sox, and Schlittler using it as fuel and then responding back with both his pitching ( in the series-clinching win ) and postgame comments (plus a few more on social media).
And while the 25-year-old insists his goal is not just to heat the rivalry back up, it doesn’t hurt either — at least it hasn’t yet.
“I think the goal when you’re playing a division rival is you’re going to perform at the best level,” Schlittler said before the Yankees’ won the series opener, 4-0, over their longtime rival. “For some guys, if the rivalry feeds them a little bit, like I think it does for me, then great. If not, it doesn’t matter.”
Schlittler, who could be the human personification of the popular Michael Jordan GIF, “and I took that personally,” has long fed off of any possible slight against him during his career, using it as fodder to help him on the mound — along with the three different fastballs he now predominantly uses to attack hitters.
So far, he has been able to toe the line of using it to his advantage and not allowing it to turn into a distraction.
“That’s all I’ve seen — I mean, that’s all [ital] I’ve seen,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He handles it quite well.”
Schlittler indicated he knows how far to go with that kind of stuff.
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“I think I handled it really well last year, before that game, just not letting it be a distraction,” he said. “Being able to feed off that when I needed to. Don’t need to go out there and overcompensate or try to do too much. At the end of the day, it’s just doing what I do best and that’s going out there and trying to dominate a lineup.”
Six months after his historic playoff start against the Red Sox, Schlittler and his family are still receiving death threats, he told The Post’s Joel Sherman over the weekend. But he spent two to three months in Boston over the offseason and said in general, his interactions with fans “were great.” That led him to believe that the “typical Boston fans” were not going to give him much problem in person, and that it was “really just the people online that aren’t respectful.”
Of course, that will be put to the test on Thursday when he makes his first career start at Fenway Park. He is not oblivious to how hostile it may get — particularly when he warms up in the bullpen, where fans can essentially breathe down his neck — though he expects it to be a “great atmosphere.”
“He’s a competitive guy, and obviously somebody who walks out there with a lot of confidence,” Boone said.
“Try to have him have less of a social media presence though,” Boone added with a grin.
Schlittler, who went back to his alma mater Northeastern on Monday to throw on the off-day, expects to have plenty of family and friends in attendance Thursday. It was not long ago that he was growing up dreaming of playing at Fenway Park, though until the draft process, those thoughts did not include him being in a Yankees uniform.
They also may not have included him becoming a key figure in giving the rivalry some life again.
“I was a little bit shocked [about the social media hate], that’s all,” Schlittler said. “I think just the game and whatever it was beforehand brought that out of me. Not the goal this year. The goal is to win a championship and whatever I can do to help the team win is exactly what I’m looking to do. I don’t think I’m going to get there by messing with people on social media.”
