Giancarlo Stanton luckily avoids Yankees fan outrage as Jays botch tag at the plate

New York Yankees fans remember this very well from the 2023 season. And honestly, probably years prior! But it was never as glaring as it's been over the last 12 months or so: Giancarlo Stanton cannot run.

All those times fans fooled themselves into thinking he'd log defensive reps to help balance his playing time. All those times fans fooled themselves into thinking he could be someone he's not. Time to accept reality. Giancarlo Stanton is a career DH hitter, and likely a below-average one when you look at a full 162-game sample size.

Stanton's appeared in 14 games this year -- all at DH. And he's still having trouble turning on the jets. On Tuesday night, he just so happened to get lucky, avoiding what would've been endless fan backlash.

Stanton reached base on an error (though he did hit a rocket in Bo Bichette's direction) and then moved to second based on a Gleyber Torres walk. With two outs, Jose Trevino ripped a single into left field.

Luis Rojas was going to hold Stanton at third ... right? RIGHT?! Nope! Stanton got the green light, and he rounded the base like he was taking a light jog in Central Park on a brisk morning.

Giancarlo Stanton luckily avoids fan outrage as Blue Jays botch tag at the plate

The throw from Davis Schneider was ... perfect. Stanton was out by five steps. But catcher Danny Jansen botched the relay, couldn't rebound in time to tag Stanton, and the Yankees got on the board to make it a 1-0 game as he slid around Jansen.

After Sunday's collapse, Monday's stinker, and the start to Tuesday with Kikuchi having his way with the Yankees' lineup, Stanton getting hosed by a mile on a terrible send as he power-walked around the bases would've had fans go into an early-season spiral.

Thankfully, we live to see another day because of Jansen's incompetence. What's funny is ... Jansen usually kills the Yankees. For his career, he's batting .281 with a .947 OPS against them across 39 career games and is totally on top of it defensively. But he just returned from an injury so he's a bit behind the game speed schedule.

We'll take what we can get but ... please, let's not try this again.