Astros players surprised that Aaron Judge got booed at Yankee Stadium

HOUSTON — In the visitor’s bullpen at Yankee Stadium during the American League Championship Series, Astros relievers covered the expected topics: the game situation, Yankees hitters and which pitcher would appear next and when.

But there also was another topic — one that involved Aaron Judge hearing boos at home during losses in Game 3 and 4 of Houston’s four-game series sweep.

“We even said it in our bullpen, ‘I don’t understand why you would boo a guy that has given you guys nothing but joy.’ Especially this year,” Astros closer Ryan Pressly told Newsday on Thursday. “It’s been one of the most electric years for a Yankee player to have.”

Judge made a run at the American League Triple Crown this season, hitting .311 with a league-record 62 homers (surpassing the 61 hit by Roger Maris in 1961). He led the majors in homers, RBI (131, tied with the Mets’ Pete Alonso), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686) and OPS (1.111).

Judge did not have that kind of success in the postseason, though. He went 5-for-36 (.139) with two homers, three RBIs, 15 strikeouts and a .490 OPS in five ALDS games against Cleveland and four ALCS games against Houston. Against the Astros, Judge went 1-for-16 (.063) with four strikeouts.

“He’s human. You don’t get to go out there and hit a homer every single time you grab a bat,” Pressly said. “He just had a bad postseason. But I think he’s one of the best players in the game. Yankees fans were lucky to have him.”

“It was my first time in Yankee Stadium. I guess I never heard a home crowd boo some of their players like that, especially in the ALCS,” Astros righthander Hunter Brown said. “It was somewhat surprising. Yankees fans are pretty spoiled in what they want to accomplish, and usually that’s World Series or bust.”

Judge getting booed was a conversation piece in the Astros’ dugout as well.

“I was definitely surprised,” said third baseman Alex Bregman, whose mother, Jackie, grew up a Yankees fan in East Islip. “It was surprising after such an unbelievable season.”

Catcher Christian Vazquez said the word “crazy” made its way around the dugout and in the clubhouse after the games at the Stadium.

“It’s crazy because that’s a guy that broke a home run record,” Vazquez told Newsday on Friday. “You’re booing your best player. It would be like here [in Houston] like booing Jose Altuve.”

The second baseman, as several of his teammates pointed out, hasn’t heard anything but support at home in what has been a miserable postseason for him. Altuve began the playoffs with an MLB-record 0-for-25 stretch and entered Friday night 3-for-32 (.094).

The overwhelming support for Altuve during the worst of that certainly can be largely attributed to the fact that the Astros didn’t lose a game in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

That was not the case with the Yankees, who failed to hit throughout the postseason, struggled to dispatch the Guardians in five games in the ALDS and lost four exasperating games against the hated Astros.

“You definitely understand their frustration,” Judge said after the Game 3 loss to Houston.

Judge has never criticized fans after the rare times he’s been booed during his six seasons in the Bronx. His responses generally fall into the category of the above quote or something along the lines of “I need to play better.”

Although Judge did hear some boos, they weren’t anything close to the level that Joey Gallo or Aaron Hicks heard during the regular season or the ones directed at Josh Donaldson during the playoffs.

Vazquez speculated that the fact that Judge heard any boos, particularly after the kind of season he had, could have an impact on free agents. Not just Judge, but anyone thinking about playing in New York.

“That’s going to be hard for free agents,” Vazquez said. “Someone is home and reads that [about Judge getting booed] and is thinking, ‘Imagine they’re booing Judge; somebody that is less than Judge, they’ll be throwing beers at him.’ ”

Vazquez laughed when he said the latter but wasn’t completely kidding.

“You see that,” he said. “In your house, it’s like your wife is booing you.”