Nick Swisher has not played well for the Yankees in the postseason this year. In seven games, he is hitting .154 with no home runs and one RBI. Worse yet, he lost a ball in the lights during Game 1 of the ALCS on Saturday that allowed Detroit to score two runs in extra innings and go on to win. As a result of his poor play, Swisher says he has heard some hurtful things from the Yankees’ Bleacher Creatures in right field.
“Last night was pretty big. A lot of people saying a lot of things that I’ve never heard before,” Swisher told MLB.com’s Bomber’s Beat blog. “Prime example; I missed that ball in the lights and the next thing you know, I’m the reason that Jeter got hurt. It’s kind of frustrating. They were saying it was my fault.
“That’s the last thing that I ever thought would be in this ballpark, that people would get on you that bad. Especially your home, where your heart is, where you’ve been battling and grinding all year long. It’s just frustrating, man. You never want to be in that spot. It’s not like you’re trying to go out there and do bad on purpose. It’s just tough, man … It hurts.”
Robinson Cano is also in the middle of a postseason slump, and Yankee fans booed him on Sunday because of it. New York has lost the first two games of the series — albeit with a little help from the umpires — and will look to turn things around in Detroit starting Tuesday. When asked if it would be a good thing for the team to get away from New York, Swisher said “maybe, man.”
For whatever reason, Yankees fans don’t seem as hyped up about their team being in the ALCS as they usually would be. The team is struggling to sell games out, and that was going on before the Jeter injury as well. In fact, fans have reportedly been shuffled around the ballpark during games in order to hide the amount of empty seats being seen on the television broadcast. If New York plays the way it did at home in Detroit, the team may not have to worry about selling tickets to another game this year.
