After more than a full year of waiting for their opportunity, Yankee fans were finally able to give it to the Astros on Tuesday night, Houston’s first visit to the Bronx with fans in the stands since the cheating scandal rocked the baseball world.
Those fans didn’t disappoint.
A limited capacity crowd of nearly 11 thousand felt like 50 thousand, as fans rained boos down on the Astros from beginning to end of the Bombers’ 7-3 victory, providing an atmosphere that many of the Yankees couldn’t find comparisons to when describing the scene after the game.
“That was intense,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of that. They brought something heavy.”
Fans immediately began mercilessly booing Carlos Correa during batting practice, and laid into Jose Altuve every time he stepped to the plate, making sure the two cornerstones of the Astros’ 2017 and 2019 pennant-winning teams had as miserable a trip to New York as possible. One fan dressed up as Oscar the Grouch so he could bang a trash can. Another brought in an inflatable trash can. Signs reading “Houston Trashtros” and “Houston Asterisks” were scattered all over the stadium, but the relentless noise was what stood out the most.
#Yankees fan blowing up an inflatable trash can! An inflatable garbage can was thrown on the field at Angels Stadium when #Astros were there in early April. pic.twitter.com/vzSnGDwQqc
— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) May 5, 2021
“That was wild,” DJ LeMahieu said. “But it was fun to be a part of, from our side at least. I think the fans have their opinion and they let them know. They had our backs the whole game.”
The Bronx crowd clearly saved the brunt of its animosity for Altuve, who edged out Aaron Judge for the MVP award in 2017, when the trash can scheme was reportedly put in place. He also hit the series-clinching home run in 2019 to send the Yankees home. On Tuesday night, he went hitless in four at-bats with a strikeout, a lineout, and a full night’s worth of jeers.
“Seemed like they were standing up most of the game and every pitch, and definitely expressing some bottled-up emotions most of the game,” Stanton said.
Stanton wasn’t a part of the 2017 roster, but he was there in 2019, as was LeMahieu. While they both appreciated the crowd’s backing, they kept their focus on the field, although memories of being eliminated by a team that has seen the legitimacy of its recent successes called into question is hardly lost.
“I wasn’t here the first playoff, but you just relive those playoffs and the disappointment and obviously the controversy that transpired from that,” Stanton said. “You bottle all that in one and that’s basically the emotion all game. The fans led the charge there.”
Stanton and the Yankees are finally heating up after a slow start, and when it comes to the Yankee Stadium fans, they were fully warmed up on Tuesday, and will likely be at it again on Wednesday night when the series continues.
“It felt like a playoff atmosphere,” Boone said. “Amazing, 10 or 12 thousand fans, the energy that was created, we haven’t seen that since 2019. It was a fun game to be a part of.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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