How Aaron Judge, Yankees feel about Giancarlo Stanton's slump, fan abuse

Posted April 09, 2018 at 06:07 AM | Updated April 09, 2018 at 07:22 AM

Baltimore Orioles v New York Yankees

Jim McIsaac | Getty Images

Randy Miller | NJ Advance Media

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton's first homestand with the Yankees started and ended the two worst games of his career.

His first ever 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in last Tuesday’s home opener, a 7-2 Yankees win over the Tampa Bay Rays, was a brutal debut in pinstripes.

Worse was his Sunday when the Yankees were 8-7 losers in 12 innings to the Baltimore Orioles in a game they led 5-0 in the first inning. Stanton stranded nine baserunners going 0-for-7 with five Ks and a throwing error playing right field.

The middle of the homestand was filled with struggles, too.

Totaled up, Stanton was 3-for-32 with 16 strikeouts in six games, leaving the reigning National League MVP with a .167 average, three homers and seven RBIs 10 games in.

A lot of the Yankees fans who paid their way into Yankee Stadium to sit through early April baseball in cold weather let Stanton know they expect more from a superstar slugger with a record $315-million contract who led the majors with 59 homers last season playing for the Miami Marlins.

Stanton was booed in the home opener even though he had made a great first impression five days earlier by homering twice in the Yankees’ Opening Day win in Toronto.

There were more boos on Sunday, and they kept getting louder after his third, fourth and fifth strikeouts, the last of which was the final out of the game with the tying and winning runs on base.

Stanton never lived through anything like this during his eight seasons with the small-market Marlins, who traded the four-time All-Star to the Yankees last January in a salary dump.

Asked after Sunday’s game if he expected Yankees fans to be this hard on him so quickly, Stanton responded, “Sure … They’re not going to cheer for that. So what do you expect?”

How are other Yankees feeling about fans turning on Stanton so quickly?

Here are eight reactions that we tracked down after Sunday’s game:

MLB: Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees

Gregory Fisher | USA TODAY Sports

Dellin Betances, RHP

“It’s tough obviously (hearing Stanton get booed). It’s kind of a love and hate relationship (between fans and players) sometimes. That’s just the way it works here (in New York), but you’ve got to continue to go out there and keep doing your thing.

“It’s great playing here in New York. The fans expect the best from you and obviously at times you’re disappointing yourself more than (the fans). The times that I’ve struggled and I haven’t been received very well, I know that it’s my fault for going out there and not doing as well. So you have to continue to believe in what got you here.

“But it’s going to take some time to adjust. He’s facing a lot of new pitchers (in the American League) that he hasn’t been facing, so it’s different. It’s a lot harder when you come from a different league and come here (to New York). I think there’s an adjustment period.

“He’ll be fine. He’s had so much success, but I think it will take time to see guys that he faces over and over. There’s a lot of new pitching that he’s never faced before. I think that’s the toughest part.”

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