Welcome to a house of horrors
Raucous atmosphere of Yankee Stadium’s right field can be ‘brutal’ for visiting players
They knew his wife’s name. They knew his mother’s name. Surely, Josh Reddick figures, they’ll know the names of his 2week-old twin sons by the time he trots to right field Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
“They use Google really well,” Reddick said.
After taking a back seat to Kyle Tucker and Jake Marisnick, Reddick will start Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in New York. He expects the fans in right field to behave at their worst, which is usually the case for him.
“As a visiting player? Brutal,” Reddick said. “So brutal.”
Reddick, who spent three seasons with the Boston Red Sox, has batted .189 in 30 games at Yankee Stadium. The seats in the right-field bleachers and right corner make it feel like the fans are on top of the defender.
He did not want to repeat the insults he’s heard. He searched for a description.
“How can I put this nicely?” he said, looking up and choosing his words carefully. “I’m not gonna be that guy. That would give them more fuel. Harsh is a good, strong word.”
Their rain of personal attacks seems ceaseless when Reddick takes to the grass. The 12-year veteran has not gotten used to it.
“No,” Reddick said. “They’ve always been pretty harsh on me. It’s always the same stuff. My mom’s name. My wife’s name. Some other expletives that I won’t repeat.”
It is to the point Reddick wishes Yankee Stadium security would do something, but then he wonders if it is part of the problem.
“The most frustrating part is there’s no action taken,” Reddick said. “You look at the security guards — they’re just watching, not saying a thing to anybody. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the ones helping to say that. It’s just a matter of circumstance to where they just let it ride.”
Astros reliever Joe Smith smiled when asked about the Yankee Stadium crowd. He’d been exposed to it while coming up with the Mets and stoked its playoff ire with the Cleve “They land Indians.
“They’re nutty,” Smith said. “We should all expect that. If you’re not getting booed in New York, you’re not doing something right.”
Teammate Michael Brantley told Reddick the environment is less stressful in left field.
say right field’s the worse,” Reddick said.
Both the Astros and Yankees felt the effects of postseason climate change in the middle of the last best-of-seven series they played at Yankee Stadium.
Reddick remembered it spot-on: “Game 4, in the eighth, when they started coming back.”
The Yankees evened the series at two games apiece with a volcanic rally. Then-Astros closer Ken Giles gave up four runs. Aaron Judge’s double tied the game, and Gary Sanchez’s goahead double caused an eruption of cheers that sent tremors through the ballpark.
“It felt like the stadium was going to explode. It was rumbling. It was loud. It was vibrating,” Reddick said.
“I honestly thought the stadium was going to fall over,” said George Springer, who was rattled in center field.
It felt more like a warm bath to Judge. The comeback defined a Bildungsroman moment for the Baby Bombers, a crew of monstrously sized young sluggers putting on an outsized performance.
“Playing in Yankee Stadium, with 50,000 yelling and screaming, that’s a lot of fun. That’s where you want to play,” Judge said.
In 2017, the Astros left the Bronx down 3-2 in the series but won the final two games at Minute Maid Park to advance to the World Series.
Again, a pit stop in New York is necessary if Houston wants to win another championship. The Astros dive back into the cauldron Tuesday with the ALCS split 1-1.
“They definitely do get behind their team. That’s one thing you can say about them,” Reddick said. “They do love their squad.”
Springer echoed the compliment.
“They expect their team to win, and there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “That’s why it’s very, very hard to play there at any time of year, let alone October. It’s a crazy atmosphere.”
Working in their favor, the Astros have home-field advantage, as they did in the 2017 ALCS. The potential Game 6 or 7 will mean the Yankees have to deal with Houston’s pressure cooker.
“It was a good atmosphere,” Judge said of the 2017 playoff games in Houston. “It’s a dome, basically, so whenever they keep the roof closed, it gets pretty loud.”
But the only way they will return to Houston is if the Astros win at least one of the next three games in the Bronx, something they failed to do in the ALCS two years ago.
“Being able to play at home for anybody is a big factor,” Springer said.