Astros manager threatens to pull team off field if fans throw objects
NEW YORK — Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch threatened to pull his team off the field during the remain two games in New York should the fans at Yankee Stadium throw debris onto the field.
Fans threw water bottles and baseballs onto the field during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, according to outfielder Josh Reddick, and Hinch added there were also objects thrown into the bullpen.
“I will pull the team off the field if we get in that situation again where bottles are being thrown and balls are being thrown and it becomes unruly. There's other ways to support your home team, and this place does as good a job as anybody to trying to police that while also trying to create an environment that's all pro-Yankees,” Hinch said before his team attempted to move within one win of reaching the World Series. “It would be a very ugly scene for baseball, a very ugly scene for the Yankees, if one of our guys was hit by something from the upper deck. Something tragic could happen and nobody wants that.
Yankee Stadium is one of the toughest postseason venues for opponents. Reddick labeled it as “disrespectful” after the game, and Hinch said he informed the umpiring crew that he felt a “dangerous situation” was brewing during the game.
“There's no place for that. Both teams will agree,” Hinch said of objects being thrown on the field. “And it's really hard to stop fans from doing that. But it's also very dangerous. MLB is aware. We're aware.”
The visitor’s bullpen at Yankee Stadium is located in left-center, and fans are situated right above the area, allowing them to let those relieves know exactly how they feel. Right field at Yankee Stadium is also a notoriously tough position for visitors.
Reddick was already critical of the atmosphere that develops in the right-field stands prior to the series shifting to New York, telling the Houston Chronicle that security does little to intervene.
The outfielder homered in Tuesday’s win to give the Astros a 2-0 lead in the second.
“I think I saw probably seven or eight water bottles out in the outfield, two baseballs got thrown from center to left,” Reddick said Tuesday, according to the New York Post. “So it’s scary. I don’t think a lot of people realize how dangerous that can really be. You throw a baseball hard enough and it hits somebody in the head and we’re not looking, it could do some damage to you as a player. ... So it’s definitely disrespectful, but at the same time, very unsafe.”
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