Note to Yankees fans for this ALCS: The Astros are used to being booed
Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, right, jokes with catcher Martin Maldonado during a practice ahead of Game 1 of baseball's ALCS, in Houston, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. Credit: AP/Eric Gay
HOUSTON — The Astros have eliminated the Yankees from the postseason each of the last three times the teams have met since 2015. The Astros have homefield advantage in the ALCS and beat the Yankees in five of seven meetings this season. The Astros are the favorites to beat the Yankees and make it to the World Series, just as they did in 2017 and 2019.
So are the Yankees viewed as the underdogs in Houston?
“Are the Yankees ever underdogs? Even when they actually are? I don't think anybody ever sees them that way,” Robert Ford, the radio voice of the Astros and a Bronx native, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday morning. “I think Astros fans view the Yankees the way most other teams’ fan bases view them: They don't like them very much."
The feeling is mutual. The first two games of the series will take place at Houston’s Minute Maid Park before the scene shifts to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Saturday.
Yankees fans are no doubt getting their lungs ready for cries of “cheater” and profane chants directed by name at Astros star Jose Altuve because of Houston’s 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
It’s unlikely to have any kind of effect on the Astros — unless you count making them more determined to beat the Yankees as an effect.
“Ever since the sign-stealing scandal they get booed everywhere,” Ford said. “Yankee Stadium this year wasn't even the worst place in terms of the booing and the vitriol. I think that it's just kind of background noise to these guys at this point. You could argue that they're motivated by the booing, the players are, but I don't think it hurts them. I think that's the biggest thing: If it doesn't hurt you, I think you already have an advantage in that regard. The Astros are not a team that's intimidated by Yankee Stadium, or by playing there. I think some of our fans may be intimidated by going to Yankee Stadium.”
One Astros fan who isn’t? Ford’s mother, who went to Yankee Stadium in June when the teams split an exhausting four-game series. She was wearing an Astros jersey and was heckled and called “cheater” by one fan.
That heckling didn’t work against that Astros fan any more than the booing works against Altuve and Co.
“My mom’s definitely the biggest Astros fan in the Bronx,” Ford said. “I think I can say that unequivocally. She actually texted me yesterday and asked if I could get her tickets to Game 3.”
The Yankees are aware of how they are viewed around the country. Game 2 starter Luis Severino on Wednesday said: “Everywhere we go, we're not liked. If we go to Boston, every year is the same. The only place that they really like us a little bit is Tampa because they don't have a lot of fans there."
Judge’s NY kiss
Why did Aaron Judge kiss the “NY” on his jersey after his second-inning home run in Game 5 of the ALDS on Tuesday? Is it a signal that he plans to sign a new contract to remain a Yankee because of his love of the pinstripes?
No.
“I've been watching a lot of Premier League soccer games," Judge said. “So I see those guys doing it. It was just in the moment . . . It was for the fans. The fans brought the energy tonight from the very first pitch.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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