The Los Angeles Dodgers fell down 2-1 against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, with a 4-0 loss at Dodger Stadium on Monday evening.
The Dodgers fans in the crowd were not happy with the team’s performance, particularly Yasmani Grandal’s as they showered him with boos after he had another rough game both at the plate and defensively.
“It sucks. He’s a teammate, he’s a competitor and you know he’s doing everything he can,” Kiké Hernandez said of the treatment Grandal received.
“He’s not trying to have a hard time behind home plate or anything like that. But it sucks that there’s nothing going on in the stands. Since the first inning when Braun hit that double, the stadium kind of went quiet for the rest of the evening, and it sucks that they got loud just to show up Yasmani.”
Hernandez went on add that catcher is one of the hardest jobs in the league, and issued a challenge to fans. “He’s trying his best, catchers have a lot going on. The game revolves around them,” Hernandez said.
“They’ve got to call every pitch. They’re involved in every situation in the game. It’s the playoffs. It’s the big leagues. If they think they can do it, go ahead. Put on your gear and go catch 99 with breaking balls that have a lot of movement. He’s been one of the best catchers in the game for a while now. He’s having a little bit of a rough patch, which we all as humans as baseball players go through. It’s just bad timing.”
Hernandez backtracked on his comments a bit, stating that the fans at Dodger Stadium are usually great, but did mention their lack of energy may have rubbed off on the players in the Game 3 loss.
“Fans here do a great job of showing up and packing the stadium every night and having a lot of passion for the game,” Hernandez said. “Tonight, for whatever reason — I guess as contagious as the energy is going to be from the fans to the players, it was from the players to the fans.”
Hernandez has been a fan-favorite in his time in Los Angeles, and it is admirable that he came to his struggling teammate’s defense. But after the performance the Dodgers put up in Game 3, going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, it is not really fair to criticize the fans.
The Dodgers still have time to turn things around though, and that will need to start beginning Tuesday night in Game 4.
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