Swisher and Fans No Longer Best Buds

I've been highly critical of Nick Swisher's play the last few days and obviously I was not the only ones. Swisher's beloved Bleacher Creatures and fans throughout Yankee Stadium serenaded him with boos on Sunday just as they have done with Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson.

And you know there are fans who get out of line, usually fueled by alcohol and start getting personal with their insults. There's never any excuse for that. If you want to boo, do so, but leave ethnicity, race, religion, family, and all other personal items out of it. You only make yourselves sound like idiots.

Marc Carig, now of Newsday, reported that the fans sang "Na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye."¹ as Swisher batted for what may very well be his last at-bat as a member of the Yankees. He's scheduled to be a free agent at the season's conclusion.  Swisher was also annoyed at the inference that his misplay in right field led to Jeter's injury.

Swisher usually warms up near the outfield wall, but stayed away today and barely acknowledged the Bleacher Creatures during roll call. Swisher's 1-3 performance left him 4-26 (.231) in this post-season and 20-126 (.164) in his four playoff years as with the Yankees.

Swisher's hit was just one of four the Yankees had on the day and he did make a good defensive play when he threw behind Omar Infante at second base after an Austin Jackson single. Robinson Cano clearly applied the tag before Infante could get back to the bag, but umpire Jeff Nelson called Infante safe.  Joe Girardi argued and then argued some more when the Tigers got RBI hits off of Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain for a 3-0 lead,which turned out ot be the final. Nelson gave him the rest of the day, Girardi's 48th birthday, off.

The game overshadowed another magnificent starting performance by a Yankees pitcher. Hiroki Kuroda threw five perfect innings before Jhonnny Peralta started the 6th inning with a single. He struck out 11 and was charged with all three runs in 7.2 innings pitched.

Unlike Saturday's series opener, the Yankees didn't have many chances to score off Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez. Mark Teixeira reached on a 2-out double in the 1st and Raul Ibanez followed with a walk. Sanchez then made a nifty behind the back play to snare Russell Martin's comebacker for the final out of the inning.

Martin left two more on in the 6th when the hit an inning ending ground out after Ichiro Suzuki reached on a Sanchez error and Ibanez drew an intentional walk. Those were the only two innings the Yankees had more than a runner on base.

Jayson Nix got the start in place of Derek Jeter and went 0-3.

1- Newsday