NEW YORK – Exactly two years ago, Giancarlo Stanton received a harsh welcome to New York.

He’d hit two home runs on opening day at Toronto, but that was long forgotten when the Yankees’ home opener against Tampa Bay rolled around.

Didi Gregorius hit two homers and the Yankees won on April 3, 2018, but many will instantly recall that Stanton struck out five times in his pinstriped debut.

Naturally, the Bronx jeers grew more intense with each strikeout.

“You put up a performance like that, you should get some boos,’’ Stanton said after his first career five-K game. “Not ideal, but you’ve got to forget about it.’’

Constant reminders

Yankees Universe still won’t let Stanton forget a few things.

He’s not a home-grown slugger, like Aaron Judge.

He’s yet to duplicate the dominance of his 2017 NL MVP year.

He’s guaranteed a staggering $214 million through the 2028 season.

And he’s coming off a lost 2019 season that began and ended with injuries.

Yet, the booing is one thing. He can turn that around with his next home run.

It was almost incomprehensibly cruel to Stanton five weeks ago, when his right calf muscle grabbed during a routine outfield drill.

“It makes it seem that I don’t take care of myself,’’ Stanton said softly by his locker on a late February morning at Yankees camp. “It makes it that much more frustrating.’’

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The road back

Stanton would have begun the 2020 season on the injured list, but he was progressing well by mid-March, when the COVID-19 crisis halted spring training and most other routine activity in the U.S.

At the time, Stanton seemed likely to return to the Yankees’ lineup by mid-April, splitting time between left field and designated hitter.

Last week, manager Aaron Boone said that Stanton would have been ready to participate in exhibition games during camp’s final week.

Having played in just one Grapefruit League game prior to his injury, Stanton had just started to see live pitching – hitting off teammates such as Zack Britton – when camp was suspended.

After about 30 at-bats, Stanton should have slotted back into a middle part of a Yankees lineup that was already without Judge, perhaps until May.

Diagnosed with a stress fracture of his first right rib, stemming from a diving play last September, Judge is due for another CT scan this week to determine if he can resume baseball activity.

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Coming out firing

Stanton arrived at camp in good spirits, pleased with an offseason workout regimen that began two days after the Yankees’ season ended.

“I had a lot of different training. I didn’t have much time off,’’ said Stanton, who played in just 18 regular season games in 2019.

Starting with a left biceps strain that morphed into a left shoulder issue, Stanton was later sidelined with left calf and right knee issues that limited him to 72 plate appearances.

Back for the playoffs, Stanton suffered a strained right quad in the AL Championship Series opener, effectively ending his season.

The Yankees’ year ended days later, after six-game loss to Houston.

Arriving this spring, Stanton unloaded on the Astros’ electronic sign-stealing scandal.

“If I knew what was coming in ’17, I probably would have hit 80-plus home runs,’’ said Stanton, branding Houston’s 2017 world title as tainted, suggesting their cheating extended to 2019 and feeling their remorse was misplaced.

Those quotes would have lived again leading into the weekend of May 15-17, when the Yankees were scheduled to visit Minute Maid Park.

Pete Caldera is the Yankees beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Yankees analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.

Email: caldera@northjersey.com Twitter: @pcaldera