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Aroldis Chapman returns to cheers, because cheers drown out conflicted feelings

NEW YORK — When Aroldis Chapman made his Yankees debut Monday night, before he lit up the radar gun in a two-strikeout performance in which he gave up a run in a non-save situation to close out a 6-3 victory over the Royals, he received a warm welcome from the crowd of 41,243 in the Bronx.

It wasn’t an all-out ovation for the pitcher returning from a domestic violence policy suspension, but cheers, by and large, are a lot louder than people softly saying to themselves, “This guy is really good, but I’m conflicted, at best, about his presence on my favorite team, and this generally feels uncomfortable.