TENSIONS RISING
How Astros World Series campaign is creating volatility unlike anything ever seen
Oct 14, 2021, 4:04 pm
The atmosphere will be brutal in Boston. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images.
Next time you hear some Altuve slander, here’s the perfect response
Hollywood or Vince McMahon couldn't have written it any better: the Houston Astros vs. the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series with the winner advancing to the World Series.
This is gonna be fun. Or as your mother used to say when you and your brother were fighting in the backyard, "Yeah, it's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye."
There's a lot of anger in America and it's spilled onto the baseball diamond and into the stands. Political differences used to be "I like Ike" and "I'm just wild about Harry." Now we have a mob chanting "Hang Mike Pence." And Pence was one of their guys! At least "in name only."
Last week Chicago White Sox pitcher Ryan Tempera said the Astros have a reputation of doing "some sketchy stuff." What he really meant was "cheating." White Sox manager Tony La Russa said the Astros have a "character shortage." What he really meant was the Astros are "a-holes."
Dusty Baker, who's normally unflappable and turns the other cheek, turned feisty, "I don't have much response to that other than I was listening to Eric Clapton this morning, and he had a song, 'Before You Accuse Me (Take a Look at Yourself).' ... You know what I mean? That's all I got to say."
I got no problem with Dusty spitting back. Except Creedence Clearwater Revival's version of "Before You Accuse Me" is much tighter than Clapton's.
Houston sports fans have a reputation for being polite. The only player who really gets a hard time from the crowd here is Albert Pujols, and that's mostly out of respect for a homer Pujols hit in the 2005 NLCS that still hasn't landed.
Last week, though, a couple of Astros fans beat the crap out of a White Sox supporter in Minute Maid Park. Wave to the TMZ cameras, fellas. American baseball has turned into European soccer in some cities, not Houston, not yet, but we're trending.
The Astros ballpark is going to rock Friday night when the Red Sox get here. The White Sox were merely bystanders in the Astros 2017 cheating scandal. The Red Sox were involved – the Astros beat them in the AL Division Series and current Red Sox manager Alex Cora was in the Astros dugout in 2017. If Cora wasn't the mastermind of the sign-stealing scheme, he was at least consigliere to crime boss Carlos Beltran.
The Red Sox, unindicted co-conspirators for their own shenanigans in 2017, have revenge on their minds. It got nasty when the Astros visited Fenway back in June. Cora didn't apologize for his fans, but did admit that the fans' jeers were "tough to swallow, tough to hear it."
Cora added that Yankees fans were much harder on the Astros. True. I was in Yankee Stadium when the Astros visited The Bronx. I never heard an entire ballpark so united in one cheer that contained the F-word. Altuve got it the worst because Yankees fans believe he not only helped the Astros steal the ALCS from the Yankees, Altuve personally robbed the American League MVP from Aaron Judge.
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa also was a target of Yankee fans' taunts. There will be only one way Correa can get those fans to stop boo'ing him – sign with the Yankees next season. Fans are so fickle.
I suspect that Sox fans will let it hang out when the ALCS moves to Boston next week. There will be chants of "Cheaters!" and "F-Altuve" and some fans will sneak in blow-up garbage cans. The lead sports column in Thursday's Boston Globe wondered if the Astros are the biggest cheaters in sports history – not just baseball, all of sports!
That's a stretch. The 1919 White Sox cheated to lose the World Series on purpose. At least the 2017 Astros cheated to win the World Series. That's something, I guess. Then again, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for betting on his own team to win. Didn't help.
Yeah it'll be brutal up in Boston. And there may be even crazier villagers with pitchforks and torches if the Astros beat the Sox. I shouldn't say "if" – I mean "when."
There's a possibility the Astros will meet the Dodgers and unforgiving, high and tight pitcher Joe Kelly in the World Series. Dodgers fans make Yankees and Red Sox fans look like the Welcome Wagon lady.
Last month, my son and two friends were in Los Angeles for an Astros-Dodgers game. They wore Astros jerseys. After the game, security insisted they leave Dodger Stadium, already soaked with beer and condiments, in the back of a police car for their protection.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.