Scene & Heard at Petco Park: Pades fans have mixed reaction to Juan Soto's return (2024)

When the Padres acquired Juan Soto at the trade deadline two years ago, demand for his jerseys was so overwhelming that the Padres Team Store ran out of O’s to spell SOTO on the back.

There were plenty of O’s when Soto, who was traded in the offseason, returned this weekend with the New York Yankees.

As in, booooooooo.

To be sure, there also were a substantial amount of cheers.

The crowd was conflicted, no one moreso than a man sitting in the right-field seats just fair of the foul pole on Friday night.

He wore a pinstriped Padres Soto jersey, apparently in support of the former outfielder.

But when Soto struck out in the first inning against Yu Darvish, the man jumped out of his seat and pumped his right fist in celebration.

Huh?

It was a scene seldom seen at the downtown ballpark — fans from both teams wearing the name of the same player on their jerseys.

A huge number of Yankees fans showed up wearing everything from Jeter and Judge jerseys to Ruth, whose last game for the Yanks was 90 years ago.

There were dozens of Yankees fans wearing Soto jersesys, some of them shoulder-to-shoulder with fans wearing Padres Soto jerseys.

It had to pose a dilemma for some among the Friar Faithful. But at $200 apiece, what are you going to do, bury the jersey in a corner of the closet?

Anyway, the reaction was decidedly mixed where Soto was concerned.

There were boos and cheers when was Soto was introduced for his first at-bat.

There were boos, but mostly cheers, when he jogged right out to right field in the bottom of the first inning.

Soto tipped his cap and clapped his glove to acknowledge the applause.

There were mostly boos when Soto was introduced at the plate in the third inning.

There were mostly cheers two pitches later when Soto belted an 0-1 sinker Yu Darvish about 20 rows up in right-center for a two-run homer.

And so it went.

San Diego, CA - May 24: Tony and Tina Givargis, right, watch as New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto (22) runs back to the dugout during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Friday, May 24, 2024 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Tina and Tony Givargis, longtime Padres fans who now split their time between San Diego and Las Vegas, proudly wore pinstripe Padres Soto jerseys.

“There’s some people that would shred it, or burn it,” Tony said before Friday’s game. “You support the talent, not the city.”

The Givargises sat at a table in the Callaway Home Run Deck on Friday night just beyond where Soto stood in right field.

Tina, especially, hoped to get Soto’s attention by standing and waving.

“I’ll follow him to the moon,” she said.

Chula Vista’s Alex Ledezma and son Sebastian hoped to get Juan Soto to sign ball he tossed to them when he played for Padres.

A few rows behind them in the right-field stands sat Chula Vista’s Alex Ledezma with his 10-year-old son Sebastian, who was holding an oversized cardboard cutout of Soto’s head.

Alex wore a City Connect Soto jersey. Sebastian wore a Yankees jersey.

“My son and daughter were disappointed that he was traded, and now my son is a Yankees fan because he wants to follow Soto,” Alex Ledezma said. “I’ve been tracking Soto since he got here in 2022, and became a big fan after that.

“In 2023, I defended him quite a bit because a lot of people said, ‘Hey, he’s not doing great.’ ... He was one of the consistent players we had.”

That first night Soto played for the Padres in the summer of 2022, there were fans lined up three dozen deep purchasing jerseys at the Padres Team Store.

Thousands and thousands of jerseys were sold that week.

There were dozens and dozens nowhere worn this weekend.

The Padres still have some Soto jerseys for sale.

According to a woman working at the Padres Authentics store, game-used jerseys are still available — starting at $5,000 each. Can’t imagine Padres fans lining up for them, though support for Soto remained strong in certain sections.

When he came out to right field before Friday’s game, one woman waved a sign reading: “I love U, Soto.”

There were similar signs sprinkled here and there around the ballpark.

One sign of support was even spotted in a condo balcony overlooking Petco Park: “Welcome back, Soto.”

Padres fans had various ways of expressing their feelings toward Juan Soto in his return to Petco Park.

Then there was the Padres fan who wore a jersey he altered with yellow tape to spell out “Stinky” above the name Soto.

What the heck?

As one young fan said to his friend standing along the right-field concourse: “We traded him. He didn’t trade himself.”

Say what?

There were decidedly more boos and catcalls for Soto on Saturday, especially when he jawed with home plate Bill Miller in the third inning.

Soto appeared to be irritated that Miller rushed him back into the batter’s box after one particular pitch.

When Soto was out on a called third strike, loud cheers came from the stands and continued as Soto stood face-to-face with Miller to discuss the matter further.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone finally came out and prevented the situation from escalating to the point of ejection.

Lewis pitches in

The Padres called on a tall right-hander out of Illinois to throw out the first pitch before Saturday’s game against the Yankees.

San Diego State 6-foot-7 head football coach Sean Lewis had the honors. It was Lewis’ second time throwing from a big-league mound.

“I did one at a Guardians game,” Lewis said. “It was much different, though. I think there were snow flurries coming down. Better weather tonight, an electric environmen and a sold-out crowd, so this is going to be really cool.

Lewis said planned to throw an AztecFASTball. He mentioned having a “great bullpen session” with son Rory earlier in the day, and he took a few more throws in right field 45 minutes before first pitch.

“Don’t dirt it,” Lewis said. “As long as that happens, we’ll be fine. Grip it. Rip it. Don’t think about it.”

With the Padres’ Tyler Wade cruched behind the plate, Lewis threw a high strike ... if Yankees 6-7 outfielder Aaron Judge had been in the batter’s box.

Parting thought

Brilliant idea: Why not put the player names on Velcro strips so they can be easily substituted with another name in such situations?

MERRILL for SOTO?

One could imagine there are a few thousand Padres fans who would welcome such an opportunity.