Aaron Judge, widely regarded as a fan favorite since his rookie year, heard boos from the crowd after striking out in the eighth inning in the Yankees’ loss to the Blue Jays on Monday night.
Whether the boos were a product of frustration from the offense’s lifeless performance on Monday or anger with Judge not accepting the team’s contract extension offer, Judge wasn’t worried about what he heard from the Yankee Stadium crowd, not seeing it as anything out of the ordinary.
“It’s not rare,” Judge said. “I’ve been hearing it since ’16. That’s nothing new. Nothing new.”
Still, hearing boos this early in the season does seem uncommon for a player like Judge, who routinely heard the loudest ovation from the home crowd when his name blares over the speakers as he steps up to the plate in the Bronx. Fans’ patience could be wearing thin after multiple years of early playoff exits, or seeing the same bugaboos from last season flare up on Monday, like lifeless bats, multiple inning-ending double plays, and more losses to the Blue Jays. Either way, nobody seemed to concerned about the reaction to Judge on Monday.
“Coming off a big weekend series and you have a Monday crowd, you tend to hear those things,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The boos sometimes drown out some of the cheers, especially in a game where we’re not generating a lot. That sometimes goes with playing. I’m not worried. Judgey has plenty of support out there.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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