Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. embraces the boos from Royals fans in the new role of playoff villain

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Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. embraces the boos from Royals fans in the new role of playoff villain

2024-10-10 11:19 Last Updated At：11:20

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Turns out Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is just fine playing the role of playoff villain.

Chisholm made headlines after New York lost Game 2 of its AL Division Series to the Royals this week when he proclaimed they “just got lucky.” And the sellout crowd of 40,312 that greeted him back in Kansas City for Game 3 on Wednesday night reminded him of the comments, booing Chisholm every time he touched the ball or stepped to the plate.

“I loved every single second of it. I love it. It gets my juices flowing,” Chisholm said after the Yankees squeezed out a 3-2 win that put them on the brink of the American League Championship Series. “I’ve never seen anyone boo a bum. It gets us going. That is the reaction I wanted and it got our juices flowing. Sounded like I got to a lot of people.”

Luck wasn't much on Chisholm's side — he was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. But the Yankees still won thanks to an eighth-inning homer by Giancarlo Stanton and a masterful performance by their bullpen, which pieced together 4 1/3 scoreless innings and silenced a feverish crowd witnessing the Royals' first home playoff game in nearly a decade.

New York will try to clinch its spot in the American League Championship Series with Gerrit Cole on the mound Thursday night.

As for Chisholm, well, he's merely the latest Yankees player to suffer the vitriol of Kansas City fans.

Those who were around in 2012, when Kauffman Stadium hosted the All-Star Game, remember the way they spewed venom on Robinson Cano, who had snubbed Royals slugger Billy Butler back when captains picked the Home Run Derby teams. Royals fans continued to boo Cano for years every time he returned to Kansas City.

Chisholm certainly seems to be fine with that potential future.

“He loves it. He enjoys it,” Stanton said. “You get the crowd into it and get him distracted on something, and he’ll be alright.”

The first wave of booing Wednesday night came when Chisholm trotted to the third base line to stand between Stanton and shortstop Anthony Volpe for introductions. It continued during his first at-bat, a groundout to second base, and every time he stepped to the plate the rest of the night — until he grounded out or struck out, and the crowd cheered.

“Bronx cheers,” quite fittingly, for a member of the Yankees.

“Jazz can be colorful sometimes,” New York manager Aaron Boone admitted. "In his head, because of the confidence he has in himself and our group, it's like, ‘Hey, they got lucky.’ But I don’t think that was the case. They obviously played really well. They played two really good games against us and earned themselves a victory (Monday) night.”

The Yankees earned another one themselves Wednesday night. No luck necessary.

“He handled it well,” Boone said of Chisholm's rude welcome in Kansas City. “That’s good for the playoffs to have a little bit of that. I don’t think he meant any disrespect by it at all. You know, it made for a little better environment.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Francisco Lindor's grand slam sends Mets into NLCS with 4-1 win over Phillies in Game 4 of NLDS

2024-10-10 11:17 Last Updated At：11:20

NEW YORK (AP) — Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in a storybook season full of them, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Edwin Díaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a postseason series at home for the first time in 24 years.

“I want to win it all. And ours will be a team that will forever be remembered,” Lindor said, speaking in the interview room with one of his young daughters on his lap drinking from a Gatorade bottle.

"This will be a team that comes every 10 years and eats for free everywhere they go. And I want to do that. I want to do that. But the job is not done."

With tears in his eyes, outfielder Brandon Nimmo embraced Lindor as the Mets poured onto the field in excitement following the final out.

Then, in a raucous locker room, they enjoyed the team's first champagne-soaked clinching celebration in Citi Field's 16-season history. The last time the Mets won a playoff series in their own ballpark was the 2000 NLCS at Shea Stadium.

“This is the kind of stuff that I was dreaming about,” Nimmo said in a clubhouse interview shown on the giant videoboard in center. “This has been a long time coming. We wanted it so bad for our fan base.”

After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego held a 2-1 lead in their NLDS heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night.

“Let's keep this thing rolling!” Mets slugger Pete Alonso told reveling fans still in the stands when he popped out of the clubhouse party for an on-field interview with his large goggles protecting his eyes. “So proud of this group. We've overcome so much.”

New York is chasing its third World Series championship and first since 1986.

“I want to slay the negative Met fan perceptions, and we’re on our way to doing that,” owner Steve Cohen said.

For the NL East champion Phillies, who won 95 games and finished six ahead of the wild-card Mets during the regular season, it was a bitter exit early in the playoffs and a disappointing step backward after they advanced to the 2022 World Series and then lost Games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NLCS at home to Arizona.

After falling short in October again, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are still looking for the franchise's third championship.

“We have a really great group. We got beat in a short series,” manager Rob Thomson said.

Perhaps overanxious at the plate with so much on the table, the Mets left the bases loaded in the first and second against Ranger Suárez and stranded eight runners overall through the first five innings.

They put three runners on again in the sixth, this time with nobody out, before No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez grounded into a force at the plate against All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman, who had warmed up three times before coming in.

With the season on the line, Thomson then summoned closer Carlos Estévez to face Lindor, who drove a 2-1 fastball clocked at 99 mph into Philadelphia’s bullpen in right-center, giving New York a 4-1 lead and sending the sold-out crowd of 44,103 into a delirious, bouncing, throbbing frenzy.

“I knew it right away,” Estévez said. “I knew I wanted to go a little bit higher on the pitch. Unfortunately, it was more like middle-away instead of up and away, and as soon as he hit it, I knew he hit it really well.”

With his first homer of these playoffs, Lindor joined Shane Victorino and Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome as the only major leaguers with two postseason grand slams. The star shortstop also connected for Cleveland at Yankee Stadium in Game 2 of a 2017 AL Division Series.

Edgardo Alfonzo hit the only other postseason slam in Mets history, during a 1999 Division Series at Arizona.

“Got runners on and we couldn’t come up with a big hit until finally, who else? The MVP. I keep saying you could write a book. You could make a movie, because this is it right here," Mets rookie manager Carlos Mendoza said.

“And then the whole time the inning is unfolding, Lindor is going to do it again. There’s no panic. The way he controls the emotions and he hits that ball. It’s unbelievable.”

Fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” as Lindor disappeared into the dugout and again when he took his position on defense in the seventh.

Game 3 on Tuesday was Lindor’s first opportunity to play at Citi Field since Sept. 8, after he missed time down the stretch with a back injury.

But few players, if any, have been as valuable to their team this year as Lindor, who has provided a remarkable string of big hits and crucial contributions as the Mets rallied from a 24-35 start to their first NLCS since losing the 2015 World Series to Kansas City.

His tying homer in the ninth inning Sept. 11 at Toronto broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hit bid and sparked a critical Mets victory, and his go-ahead homer in the ninth on Sept. 30 in Atlanta clinched a playoff berth.

“It just gets better and better,” Cohen said. “In that situation, he just comes through over and over again.”

Lindor also fought back from a 1-2 count to draw an eight-pitch walk leading off the ninth against All-Star closer Devin Williams last week in Milwaukee, helping to set up Alonso’s go-ahead homer that saved New York’s season in the Wild Card Series clincher.

“It’s been an uphill fight. It’s been tough. But we’re still not where we want to be,” Lindor said. “This road, it’s been, yeah, it’s been curvy — but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Mets starter Jose Quintana didn’t allow an earned run in five-plus innings of two-hit ball, and David Peterson pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

Díaz walked his first two batters in the ninth, prompting groans in the stands, but retired the next three — two on strikeouts – for the first postseason save of his career.

Shut down at the plate all series besides a late comeback to win Game 2 at home, the Phillies scored their only run on an error by third baseman Mark Vientos in the fourth.

Hoffman took his second loss, the latest flop by a Philadelphia bullpen that failed to deliver throughout the series.

“Some of it’s execution, maybe some of it’s being familiar with our guys,” Thomson said. “I don’t know. It should work both ways, though.”

UP NEXT

New York went 5-2 against the Padres this season and 2-4 versus the Dodgers.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. embraces the boos from Royals fans in the new role of playoff villain

Sport

Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. embraces the boos from Royals fans in the new role of playoff villain

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