If you paid to see this Yankees-Blue Jays game, you have my sympathy
Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees strikes out in the seventh inning against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
A very knowledgeable baseball person asked me the other day why home fans would boo their own players. This was in the wake of the Javier Baez "thumbs-down" incident with the Mets.
To that person, I submit the Yankees' 8-0 home loss to the Blue Jays on Monday.
Let’s start that it was an absolutely perfect weather day in the Bronx. Sunny, 82 degrees. Gorgeous.
That was the only thing that went right for the home fans.
You overlook the traffic, the ticket prices, the $45 for parking, the outrageous concession stand costs, all of it, because you want to have a good time at the ballpark.
And you want to see your guys win. Or at least not look as if they don’t belong on the same field with their opponent.
The Yankees couldn’t manage that.
"Today wasn’t a very good day for us, obviously," Aaron Boone said.
And remember, fans who showed up already were wary after the Yankees dropped two of three to the historically bad Orioles over the weekend, blowing a three-run lead in the seventh inning on Sunday.
On Monday, the Yankees were down 2-0 three batters in as Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guererro Jr. homered back-to-back off Jameson Taillon.
The Yankees made three errors on the first six fieldable balls hit by the Blue Jays.
The Yankees had a total of five hits, all singles.
Still, it was a 3-0 game into the ninth and the fans had the illusion of hope. That’s when Boone, with the Yankees’ bullpen cooked, called in Brooks Kriske, who is truly the 28th man on the 28-man roster.
Kriske, who hadn’t pitched in the majors since a disastrous outing in Boston on July 22 in which he threw four wild pitches, allowed a leadoff home run by Teoscar Hernandez, walked three men in a five-batter span and gave up a grand slam by Semien.
Time for the 31,196 on hand to head for the exits.
It was Semien’s second home run of the day and Toronto’s fourth. The Blue Jays, who are in chase mode in the AL wild-card race, have won five in a row and eight of nine.
The Yankees, after their 13-game winning streak, have lost seven of nine, including three in a row.
So it’s OK if you were at Monday’s stinker and aimed a few jeers the Yankees’ way. They earned them, individually and collectively.
Kriske certainly heard some. Gleyber Torres, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and committed another careless error at short, is not a fan favorite right now.
Joey Gallo went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, three of them looking. He heard the most boos of anyone. Gallo is batting .130 as a Yankee with 61 strikeouts in 123 at-bats. That’s remarkable.
Boone said he finally is ready to consider moving Gallo out of the No. 2 hole. Ya think?
Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 and grounded into a game-ending double play. If there were any boos at that point, it was for the outcome, not the player, even though Judge has been slumping, as has Giancarlo Stanton. In the last three games, Gallo, Judge and Stanton have gone 1-for-35 with 18 strikeouts.
"Just an awful game for the Yanks," Michael Kay said on YES when it was over.
"This one you’re going to have to flush," David Cone said.
That’s easy for the players to do. It’s what they have to do.
It’s harder for fans to do if this is the one game they were able to attend in this stretch — if they showed up with hopes of a memorable day and went home trying to forget everything they saw on the field.
You know that commercial they’ve been running over and over on YES about the dad taking his kid to his first game at Yankee Stadium? Sweet, well-produced spot.
Clearly, the tyke didn’t go to a game like Monday’s. Do you know anyone who talks wistfully about their first game being an ugly 8-0 loss in which the home team played poorly in every facet?
You hope Monday wasn't your first game. That you didn't go to celebrate an important birthday or anniversary. That it wasn't the game in which you decided to do a scoreboard proposal to your sweetie.
"It’s not fun, losing, that’s for sure," said Taillon, who gamely pitched around the three errors to allow three runs in seven innings.
It’s no fun watching it, either. And that is why fans sometimes boo their own players. Because there’s nothing else they can do.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
