Unruly Yankees fans tarnish glad tidings in ninth
Oscar Mercado #35 of the Cleveland Guardians is restrained as fans throw debris on the field following Gleyber Torres #25 of the New York Yankees walk off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium on April 23, 2022 in New York City. Credit: Getty Images/Mike Stobe
‘Acts of violence.”
That’s how Guardians rightfielder Oscar Mercado described the chaotic events that stained what otherwise would be described as the Yankees’ best victory of this early season, Saturday’s 5-4 walk-off in the Bronx.
“Disgraceful” is the word Yankees broadcaster John Sterling used.
Added Cleveland’s Myles Straw: “Classless . . . Worst fan base on the planet.”
I’ll add this: Just what the heck is wrong with people?
The Yankees went from a walk-off celebration with the unlikeliest of heroes in Gleyber Torres to a rescue mission, trying to shelter some Guardians from the fusillade of garbage, including beer cans and water bottles, being thrown from the rightfield stands. Rarely — if ever — has a thrilling comeback soured so quickly.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo — the full Jumbo package — were among the Yankees who peeled off to rightfield to protect Mercado from people wearing their own jerseys. Mercado said he felt a beer can zip past his head on Torres’ walk-off winner, and when he spun around, a hailstorm of debris came flying.
“Don’t try to get people hurt,” Mercado said. “That’s not how things work. At the end of the day, we’re human beings as well, so I’m not going to sit there and allow them to throw stuff at me. They need to be held accountable and I think there should be rules set up for that. That’s ridiculous and that should not happen.”
After the game, the Yankees were put in an awkward position. Ripping their own fans is always a losing proposition. But as Mercado put it, this was a matter of basic human decency and superseded the uniform.
“At the end of the day, we’re all athletes and we’re all in a fraternity together and we don’t want something bad happening to them,” Rizzo said. “I know they don’t want anything bad happening to us. And it’s just about being smart. You don’t know what’s going on in the shuffle.
“Our fans are passionate, they bring the noise every night, and we appreciate that. When beers start flying and things start flying, you just want to get everyone under control as best you can so things don’t escalate more than they have to.”
Why did this have to happen? Wasn’t it enough of a feel-good afternoon to just leave the empty bottles behind on the way to the exits?
Nestor Cortes again was sensational, allowing one hit, striking out eight and becoming the first Yankee to pitch into the seventh inning this season. He also provided the day’s defensive sparkler, going full Superman leap to catch a toss from Rizzo and beat the diving Steven Kwan to the bag.
Watching Cortes is about as much fun as there is in the majors right now, and Saturday was another highlight reel for him.
“Under this body, there’s a guy that’s athletic,” he joked afterward.
Even after Cortes’ departure, the Yankees gave everyone in the Bronx their money’s worth (not always the case). Isiah Kiner-Falefa, down to the game’s last strike, hammered a 101-mph fastball off the leftfield wall for the tying double in the ninth. That set up Torres, fresh from oblivion to the on-deck circle, for the deciding pinch-hit single up the alley in right-center.
These are the kind of moments that people hope to be a part of when they arrive in the Bronx, and Saturday’s game was stuffed with them, one after the other. There also was Josh Donaldson’s go-ahead blast in the seventh inning, a 421-foot rocket, and an early nominee for bat flip of the year (worth checking out).
Instead, we were left with the ugliness, a chain of embarrassing episodes that began earlier in the ninth when Guardians leftfielder Kwan slammed into the wall while trying to catch Kiner-Falefa’s double. Kwan, a rookie, already is one of the season’s top stories, and he was badly shaken up in the collision. As he was sprawled out on the ground, however, the Guardians became infuriated as the fans taunted and harassed him.
At one point, Straw scaled the chain link fence that covers the leftfield message board, nearly going nose to nose with fans before Mercado pulled him back down by his jersey.
“Kwan is the nicest guy on the planet,” Straw said. “That’s my teammate, that’s my brother. My emotions got to me a little bit. As a Yankees fan, I feel like you should be excited for your team, you should be cheering, but you should never prey on someone. He went real hard into the wall. There is no business for saying the things those guys said to him. It got to me a little bit.”
Climbing the fence is a bridge too far. Straw has to realize that. But his own emotional outburst was no excuse for the travesty that ensued. A stirring Yankees win wound up being transformed into a shameful L in the court of public opinion, thanks to the boorish behavior of a few.
And that is a shame.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
