New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo a master at timing

Now that the New York Yankees have clinched a spot in the postseason and a first round bye, there is one reason left to pay attention to the final few games – Aaron Judge and his chase for 62 homers.

Much to the dismay of the assembled crowd at Yankee Stadium, Judge remained at 61 homers. He was 0-2 with two walks, scoring a run and striking out twice in the Yankees’ 8-0 victory.

Anthony Rizzo lets New York Yankees fans vent frustrations

That second walk drew a visceral reaction from the crowd. Orioles reliever Spenser Watkins walked Judge on five pitches, the one offering that was in the zone fouled off at 3-0. The crowd began a chant to express their frustrations.

It is also a chant that first baseman Anthony Rizzo seemed to be aware of when he headed to the plate. As Lindsey Adler of The Athletic noted, Rizzo stepped out of the batter’s box during the chant, which may just so happened to have been a coincidence.

Players step out of the box for any number of reasons. Maybe the batting gloves did not feel right or maybe he had something in his eye. It could be that, as he was getting set up for his plate appearance, he saw something in the stands that amused him and he needed to refocus. There are plenty of valid reasons as to why he would have needed those few moments.

And if that just so happened to be when the crowd was voicing their displeasure with a particular chant? Well, Rizzo cannot stop that from happening. He can only handle what is going on with himself at the moment. Whatever he needed to take care of worked as Rizzo ended his plate appearance with an infield hit.

New York Yankees fans vented their frustrations after Aaron Judge was walked. It was just a coincidence that Anthony Rizzo needed some extra time.