Stanton faces music in blowout loss to Sox
New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton was in the trainer’s room for nearly an hour Tuesday night after his team’s ugly 14-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Once he finally emerged, Stanton ducked into the back room to grab a snack.
He looked around, and most of his teammates were already dressed and gone for the night.
He was hoping to take a quick shower and head back to the hotel peacefully himself.
Uh-uh.
Stanton was informed there was a roomful of reporters who still wanted to talk to him.
He couldn’t believe it. He barely had anything to do with the Yankees’ worst loss to the Red Sox in nine years. He struck out his first two at-bats on just seven pitches against Red Sox ace Chris Sale, but he also got a single off him and a double off left-handed reliever Brian Johnson.
Stanton may have been playing left field for the first time with the Green Monster behind him at Fenway Park, but he never had a fly ball hit to him. And in the fateful sixth inning, when the Red Sox scored nine runs — the most they scored off the Yankees in a single inning in 20 years — the only ball hit his way was Mookie Betts’ grand slam, which was hit over his head.
Yet, there he was, the centre of attention, when all he wanted was to quietly go home.
So, he walked out into the middle of the Fenway’s cramped visiting clubhouse and, with a cookie in his hand, was encircled by 25 reporters, and took two minutes and 45 seconds worth of questions.
Toto, you sure ain’t in Miami anymore. “Yeah, that’s OK, I’ll be all right,’’ Stanton said softly at his locker, watching the room empty. “I can deal with it. I know I can.’’
Welcome to life in New York, where it may be only April 12, far too early for anyone to panic or draw conclusions, but in the city that never sleeps, it can get late awfully early.
The Yankees, heavily favoured to win the AL East this season, thanks largely to Stanton’s arrival, already find themselves 4 1/2 games out of first place behind the Red Sox after being body-slammed at Fenway.
Stanton could have hit a pair of grand slams and a two-run homer, and it wouldn’t have affected the outcome, but he’s the easiest and certainly biggest target.
He’ll get the blame when they lose, accolades when they win, and there’s nothing in the world he can do about it.
And when you happen to be hitting .196 with 22 strikeouts in 46 at-bats, you’ve got a target on your back larger than the Empire State Building.
“Everybody goes through adversity,’’ said Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, who finished runner-up in the AL MVP race last year.
“You never know when it’s going to happen, but it happens. It’s baseball.
“This won’t faze him. He’s going to grind out at-bats. He’s never going to give up. He’s never going to worry about what happened in the last game.
“He’s here in the present and he’s going to go out and do his thing,’’ added teammate Judge.
It’s just that life was a whole lot easier in Miami, where Stanton never had a winning season with the Marlins, and now going to a place where anything less than a World Series championship is a failure.
It’s why some of Stanton’s former teammates worried when he went to New York, knowing that he’s a quiet, pensive man who never seeks the limelight. He would prefer to be as obscure as a Manhattan hotdog vendor.
Yet, anonymity is not possible anymore. Not when he and Judge are the faces of the organization.
Not when he’s the highest-paid player on the team.
And not when he’s the reigning
NL MVP.
This, after all, is New York. “When you go to a place like that, as a player, you know this is what you signed up for,’’ said Los Angeles Angels outfielder Chris Young, who played for the Yankees and Red Sox.
“But you’re judged by how much you’re making. If you’re making $300 million, anything short of a Cy Young or MVP is a bad season.”
“I’m sure (NBA stars) LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry deal with the same type of thing, so it comes with the territory.
“But it doesn’t make it any easier when you’re trying to still be the same positive person you’ve always been, and you get nothing but negative in return.’’