WATT A SHOW!

J.J. Watt, Jose Altuve, and Carlos Beltran score big at Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Awards

Seth Livingston
Steven Devadanam
Dec 9, 2017, 11:54 am
Jose Altuve and J.J. Watt won big. Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated

Originally appeared on CultureMap/Houston.

If your Sunday morning plans are centered around TV and chill, we suggest you tune into NBCSN, as Houston will be the MVP of the 2017 Sportsperson of the Year Award Show.

As seen all over social media this week, J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans, and José Altuve of the World Series Champion Houston Astros, are both 2017 Sportsperson of the Year recipients. (Cool local angle: Houston men’s style house Festari dressed and styled Altuve for the SI cover.) The show originally aired Friday night. 

You can expect some serious Htown love when Houston native (and NFL great) Michael Strahan presents the award to the two local legends, with a speech recognizing their contributions to the Houston community.

With his trademark humility, Watt credited first responders and citizens in his acceptance speech: “I don’t think I could accept this award without mentioning the 200,000 people who donated to the fund…without mentioning all the firefighters and policeman, and all the people who got their own boats and went out in the streets to help save people. This award is about humans being good to help other humans and I think it’s incredible,” he says. For a refresher, Watt’s total donations topped $37 million.

Fresh off his retirement announcement, Astros star Carlos Beltran has been given the first-ever Hope Award from SI for using his platform to help Puerto Rico rebuild after Hurricane Maria.

“As a Puerto Rican, I’m extremely proud to be from the Island that has given me so much support throughout my 20-year career in baseball,” Beltran says. Beyoncé even makes an appearance — furthering the Htown dominance — as she and Daily Show host Trevor Noah presented Colin Kaepernick with the SI Muhammad Ali Legacy Award.

But who are we kidding? It’s all about Justin James, and Altuve.

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The Sports Illustrated 2017 Sportsperson of the Year Award Show first aired nationally on NBCSN at 7 pm, Friday, Dec. 8. NBCSN will air an encore presentation of Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year at 9 pm, Sunday, December 10; and 10:30 pm, Tuesday, December 12.

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Houston's magic number stays at 2

Astros drop series finale to Mariners after rough start by Greinke

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

With their magic number at 2 to secure their spot in the 2020 MLB postseason, the Astros returned to T-Mobile Park in Seattle for this three-game series' finale and rubber game. Here are the highlights from the game:

Final Score: Mariners 3, Astros 2.

Record: 28-28, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Nick Margevicius (2-3, 4.57 ERA)

Losing pitcher: Zack Greinke (3-3, 4.03 ERA).

Greinke unable to complete five innings

While the Astros were being held scoreless, the Mariners were putting up runs on Zack Greinke. They took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles followed by an RBI-double with one out. Greinke would stop the damage there, then looked to settle in over the next few frames.

He allowed just one baserunner in the second through fourth innings, a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth. Then, in the fifth, the Mariners would knock him out of the game by getting a one-out single that would come around to score on a two-out RBI-double, followed by an RBI-single to extend the lead to 3-0. Greinke faced one more batter, allowing a single before Dusty Baker would take the ball and move to the bullpen. His final line: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 HR, 92 P.

Astros try a late rally, come up short

On the other end, the Astros were unable to break through against Nick Margevicius, getting just one hit and two walks through the first four innings. They had a chance to get on the board in the top of the fifth, starting the inning with back-to-back singles before a walk loaded the bases with one out to turn the lineup over. They'd come up empty, though, with George Springer striking out before a long flyball to center by Jose Altuve to end the inning.

After finishing the fifth for Greinke, Andre Scrubb returned for a scoreless sixth, working around a one-out walk. Still 3-0, Blake Taylor took over on the mound in the bottom of the seventh, erasing a leadoff single and two-out walk to keep Seattle from extending their lead. Houston had another chance to score in the top of the eighth, getting two runners in scoring position, but again would strand them.

Cy Sneed was the next reliever out for the Astros, working around a two-out walk to send the game on to the ninth. The Astros would avoid the shutout, getting a two-RBI single by pinch-hitting Josh Reddick in the top of the ninth to make it a one-run game at 3-2. That's as close as they'd come, though, as the Mariners would eventually get the final out to take the series and keep the Astros' magic number stagnant at 2.


Up Next: There is one series left in the regular season for Houston, and it awaits them in Arlington with a four-game series against the Rangers, who are well eliminated from playoff contention. The first of the four games will start at 7:05 PM Central on Thursday with a pitching matchup of Lance Lynn (6-2, 2.53 ERA) for Texas and Cristian Javier (4-2, 3.33 ERA) for the Astros.

astros recap astros vs mariners astros score mariners score mariners recap mlb mlb recap zack greinke astros

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