Loading ...After losing game one of the ALCS in extra innings, while also losing shortstop and team captain Derek Jeter for the remainder of the postseason, the New York Yankees came out flat in game two and lost 3-0 to the Detroit Tigers in front of their home crowd at Yankee Stadium.
As the Yankees continued to struggle at the plate, fans grew restless and many star players, most notably Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, and Curtis Granderson, were booed for underachieving.
Now, after being swept in four games by the Tigers, an anonymous Yankees player thinks the hostility from their hometown crowd affected the team's play throughout the series.
"I really think the booing spooked a lot of guys," an unnamed player told the New York Daily News. "A lot of guys hadn't been booed before, and they couldn't believe how nasty it got in the stands."
After game two, the outgoing fan-favorite Swisher was upset with how fans had treated him for struggling to hit, misplaying an important ball in right field, and even blaming him for Derek Jeter's injury, but he was not alone.
"A lot of guys were talking about it in the clubhouse," the player said. "I was surprised by how much it bothered them. I really don't think they ever recovered."
The Yankees went on to lose games three and four as Detroit will now advance to the World Series. This is the second consecutive year that the Tigers have eliminated the Yankees from the postseason.
After scoring four runs in the ninth inning of game one, the Yankees scored just three runs in the final three games of the series and combined for only two hits in the elimination game.
Swisher, Ichiro Suzuki, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Huroki Kuroda, Russell Martin, Raul Ibanez, Andruw Jones, and Eric Chavez are all free agents, while Granderson has a team option, so the Yankees could look to shake things up this offseason as they continue to work toward their goal of lowering the team's payroll under $189 million by 2014.
Also….
- Enter the Yankees 101 jersey giveaway to win an authentic Mitchell & Ness Yankees jersey!
- Like Yankees 101 on Facebook and follow Yankees 101 on Twitter.
Related Videos
No related posts.
Short URL: http://sport-ne.ws/lrx
