Josh Hamilton Didn't Sound Too Thrilled About Being Booed by Angels Fans During the ALDS

Josh Hamilton put together an ALDS to forget as the Angels were swept by the Royals. The Los Angeles outfielder went 0-for-13 in the series and his most significant contribution was probably clocking Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez in the mask on a backswing. It culminated a disappointing, injury-filled season for Hamilton who, according to the Orange County Register, received 12 cortisone injections to his shoulder and rib cage in order to get onto the field in October.

Even so, by his third at-bat of the series Hamilton was booed by the home crowd. In the second year of a five-year, $125 million deal, Hamilton isn’t likely to endear himself to the fans with quotes like this from Tuesday:

"“I thought it was pretty funny, after my third at-bat of the first game, I got booed,” Hamilton said. “I’m like, seriously? I’m out for a month, put all kinds of poison in my body to even attempt to play, and get booed. Whatever. It’s kind of comical. “I don’t take offense to it because they don’t know me. There is no personal interaction.”"

The 33-year-old outfielder continued:

"“We don’t necessarily play for the people in the stands,” he said. “We play for each other. We spend every day with each other. We have relationships with each other. We love each other. We fight for each other. That’s what we play for.”"

While Hamilton’s sentiment’s aren’t necessarily wrong, when a professional athlete begins grousing about the fans it rarely ends well. Of course if Hamilton starters hitting home runs again, the home crowd will cheer him. However if he continues to strikeout out (266) at a rate nearly double his RBI total (123) during his two seasons in Anaheim the situation could continue to deteriorate into 2015.

[H/T Hardball Talk]