Fansided

Yankees fans boo Giancarlo Stanton during 5-K home debut

By Nick Tylwalk

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees strikes out in the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays during Opening Day at Yankee Stadium on April 3, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees strikes out in the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays during Opening Day at Yankee Stadium on April 3, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Giancarlo Stanton may still hit 50 homers this year for the Bronx Bombers and the fans will be loving him, but they weren’t so fond of his debut at Yankee Stadium.

The New York Yankees had to love their return on investment the very first time Giancarlo Stanton pulled on the pinstripes in a regular season MLB game, as he blasted two home runs on Opening Day. That game was on the road, and he didn’t get to play in front of the home faithful until Tuesday.

His Yankee Stadium debut was more horror movie than action flick. Stanton went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts, a.k.a. pretty much the worst possible day you can have in five plate appearances.

(Yes, stats nerds, grounding into a double play during one of those at-bats is probably technically worse, but we’re not sabermetricians here at FanSided, just bloggers.)

Alas, that performance to forget came during an 11-4 victory for the Yankees over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays, and Didi Gregorius, batting cleanup behind Stanton, did a pretty fair imitation of the slugger, belting a pair of three-run homers and driving in eight. So all is forgiven for Giancarlo, right?

Well …

Yep, those are Yankees “fans” booing their shiny new acquisition just because he had a horrible day the first time he played at home in the Bronx.

Listen, we’re of the opinion that within reason, people who pay money to go sit in the seats at pro sporting events can act how they please. But maybe everyone should chill the heck out. Stanton was always going to whiff a fair number of times — Aaron Judge will too, based on last year — but that’s the price you pay for what he does when he makes contact. He’s going to send a lot of balls over the Yankee Stadium wall in 2018. He also probably will not have many five-strikeout games considering this was his first.

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Just, you know, maybe not immediately. Definitely not Tuesday night. Booing him, though, seems both harsh and premature. Be better, Yankees faithful.

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