Kike Hernandez Rips Dodgers Fans After Game 3 Loss

Kike Hernandez was not happy with Los Angeles Dodgers fans after his team dropped Game 3 of the NLCS Monday night. During a postgame interview, Hernandez blasted fans for being quiet, but then booing catcher Yasmani Grandal.

Here’s what he had to say:

"“It sucks. He’s a teammate. He’s a competitor, and you know he’s doing everything he can. 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 (Ryan) Braun hit that double, the stadium went kind of quiet for the rest of the evening. And it sucks that they got loud just to show (up) Yasmani. “He’s trying his best. Catchers have a lot going on. The game revolves around them. 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 catch 99 (mph) 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 bit of a rough patch, which we all as humans, as baseball players, go through. It’s just bad timing.”"

He later added the following:

"“We had no energy, the stadium had no energy, the fans had no energy. Overall, it was a pretty bad game for everybody that calls themselves Dodgers.”"

Grandal is having a historically awful series. In Game 1 he had two passed balls and two errors. In Game 2 he was only used as a pinch hitter, but grounded into an inning-ending double play. Then Monday night he had another passed ball, allowed a wild pitch that let in a run and struck out three times, the final one coming with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

Grandal is now 7-for-68 in his postseason career with 30 strikeouts, and he’s 3-for-22 this postseason with 10 strikeouts.

At one point Dodgers fans were chanting, “we want Austin” as they begged for backup catcher Austin Barnes.

Hernandez is defending his teammate and that’s admirable. But calling out the fans for a dead atmosphere and booing a player who isn’t performing likely won’t sit well with them.