These didn’t seem intentional but still, it’s the Astros.
Back before the coronavirus brought the world to a halt, MLB fans were getting ready to spend a season booing the Houston Astros for cheating in 2017 when they won the World Series thanks in part to a trash can.
Now baseball is on the verge of returning for a 60-game season and while no fans are allowed at the games, fans are still looking for the Astros to get beaned by pitchers who are looking for a little payback.
Three members of the Astros got hit by pitches during Tuesday’s exhibition game with the Royals and while these didn’t seem intentional (two were done with the bases loaded) it is still going to be Twitter fodder whenever someone on the Astros gets hit by a pitch this year.
Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman got hit in back-to-back at-bats in the second inning. These came with the bases loaded so credit these to bad pitching by Kansas City:
The Klutch Sports roster keeps getting stronger, adding the 2019 AL Batting champion.
Klutch Sports continues to add to their loaded roster of stars in the sports world, adding one of baseball’s most exciting players, Chicago White Sox shortstop and 2019 American League batting champion, Tim Anderson.
Klutch announced the addition of Anderson to the team on their Instagram yesterday. Anderson joins an already loaded roster on the baseball side of Klutch Sports, which is run by agent Brodie Scofield, who joined Klutch earlier this year.
Anderson is a great addition to their team and adds even more star power to the baseball side. Earlier this year, Houston Astros star Alex Bregman switched representation from Klutch Sports after LeBron’s sports media company UNINTERRUPTED announced they would be doing a documentary series on the Astros sign-stealing scandal that exploded in the earlier part of 2020. But that little blip has not stopped the growth of Klutch’s baseball arm, which has become more formidable with the addition of Anderson.
But arguably no Grapefruit League fanbase has been more excited to taunt the Astros than the Mets. They came out in full force for Sunday’s game at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Some fans even got creative.
With Alex Bregman — one of the biggest beneficiaries of the cheating tactics — at the plate in the first inning to face the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard, some fans seated behind home plate banged their hands against a trash can to mimic the Astros’ cheating tactics from the past three seasons.
While a banging noise against a trash can was used to signify off-speed pitches for the Astros, in a bit of poetic justice here, Bregman struck out looking on a fastball. It was this kind of Sunday for the Astros.
It’s a week into March and and the booing is relentless
Curt Schilling is not above plunking hitters, but if the former major league pitcher were still playing today, he says he would not intentionally throw at Astros players this coming season.
Curt Schilling is not above plunking hitters, but if the former major league pitcher were still playing today, he says he would not intentionally throw at Astros players this coming season.
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On Wednesday I wrote about the Houston Astros being cowards. I called them that word because on the first day that pitchers and catchers reported to spring training the team did not allow media into their facilities and the team even roped off parking lot and had it heavily guarded by security.
I saw that as extremely cowardly because the team knew that the media would be wanting to get some answers about the embarrassing cheating scandal from some pitchers and catches, most notably Justin Verlander, who ended up speaking to reporters on Wednesday and said he wished he would have spoken up when he saw his teammates cheating: “I wish I had said more and I didn’t, and for that I am sorry.”
Well, now it turns out that I was wrong to call them cowards and I must apologize for calling them that. My parents raised me to admit when I was wrong and to say sorry when necessary.
So, I’m sorry.
The Astros aren’t cowards.
They’re just idiots.
I mean, did you see how they handled their “apologies” on Thursday? They had months to figure out the best way to handle this and they apparently settled on being a real-life version of that GIF where the guy walks to the car with a handful of things only to slip and drop them all in spectacular fashion.
The Houston Astros had PR companies across the globe pointing and laughing at them.
Then 55 seconds later, when pressed on that statement, Crane said: “I didn’t say it didn’t impact the game.”
I mean, to steal a line from another popular GIF, Â we are laughing!
But Crane’s incredibly poor apology wasn’t even the worst one, which tells you just how amazing this entire fail by the team was on Thursday.
Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve apologized for their actions with such little genuineness that it was stunning and laughable. Everyone on Twitter instantly starting comparing their apologies to Dwight Schrute’s hilarious non-apology from The Office.
Bregman said: “I am really sorry… about the choices… that were made… by my team, by the organization, and by me. I have learned from this… and I hope to regain the trust of baseball fans.”
I mean LOL. That was basically me apologizing to my parents for coming in a few hours after curfew back in my high school days.
Altuve said: “The whole Astros organization feels bad for what happened in 2017. We especially feel remorse for the impact on our fans and the game of baseball. And our teams is determined to move forward and play with intensity and bring back a championship to Houston in 2020.”
Again, they had months to figure this thing out and that’s how they handled it?
Woof.
This year is going to be a mess for this team, and rightfully so. They don’t deserve any forgiveness, at least not yet.
Because what happened on Thursday was another embarrassing day for a franchise that is getting used to those.
Thursday’ biggest winner: Tristan Thompson’s take on LeBron’s diet.
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
The Athletic published a great story on Thursday that had a bunch of people who know LeBron James pretty well tell their favorite LeBron James stories. Former teammate Tristan Thompson dished on LeBron’s diet, which sounds like a lot of fun but not like something that should power such a phenomenal athlete. LeBron LOVES dessert and breakfast.
Quick hits: Tiger’s tribute to Kobe… Crazy Zion facts… Pitches for Tom Brady… And more!
The sports world has been waiting since November to hear apologies from the Houston Astros for the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the baseball offseason.
The sports world has been waiting since November to hear apologies from the Houston Astros for the sign-stealing scandal that rocked the baseball offseason.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
MLB.com reports that Crane explained Tuesday that the team will address the situation once the players are geographically together. The report follows the Astros FanFest weekend, which was this past weekend.
“We’ll all get them together and they’ll come out with a strong statement as a team and, I think, apologize for what happened and move forward,” Crane told MLB.com. “A couple of guys that have been interviewed have been holding back a little bit. We need to get them a little more time to get together.”
During FanFest, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman were the most prominent players speaking to media, but neither player addressed the scandal in a particularly apologetic manner.
Bregman called the accusations that the pair wore buzzers at the plate “just stupid,” according to Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart, and Altuve assured fans that the team would return to the World Series.
Astros pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Thursday, Feb. 13, the first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 17.
“Quite frankly, we’ll apologize for what happened, ask forgiveness and move forward,” Crane said.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
The Houston Astros players are set to apologize for their roles in the team’s sign-stealing scandal at spring training, that revelation via owner Jim Crane.
The Houston Astros, to put it nicely, just need to shut up for a while and do their best to back away from any more chances of bringing unwanted attention their way.
Because this whole sign-stealing scandal has been an absolute mess for the franchise, and rightfully so. And how they’ve been handling it has been, well, awful.
Sure, they fired their GM and manager moments after MLB punishments were handed out. But then last weekend they had Jose Altuve and others out there for a FanFest event and it went as one would it expect it too.
Then on Tuesday night the team tweeted out a few local awards some members of the franchise won, which doesn’t sound like a good thing to do:
Here’s an idea: The Houston Astros didn’t need to announce those awards to the world. How about you just let the awards happen and then move on, without sharing the “news” with anyone outside of the team.
Because that Tweet, which had to be sent by some poor member of their social media team, did not go over well:
Guys! I fixed it! Athlete of the Year: Trash Can Moment of the Year: Buzzers Coach of the Year: the TV in the dugout
Here’s what Astros stars are saying about the team’s cheating scandal.
The Houston Astros are searching for a new manager and general manager after the club fired A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow in the wake of an MLB report that detailed how the team used technology to steal signs during the 2017 and 2018 MLB seasons. In the aftermath of the report, fans have continued to dig into different theories about the Astros’ scheme, including the claims that players wore buzzers as a part of their uniform as a signaling device to be tipped off to pitches. Many MLB players are outraged, and it’s safe to assume that the Astros will face incredible opposition from fans on the road in the coming seasons.
According to 2017 AL MVP Jose Altuve, though, the distractions and organizational upheaval won’t keep the reigning American League champions out of the 2020 World Series. Altuve spoke to the media and addressed the scandal on Saturday, saying that “everything will be fine” by the end of the upcoming season.
“Believe me, at the end of the year, everything will be fine. We’re going to be in the World Series again. People don’t believe it…. we will. We made it last year, we were one game away of winning it all.”
When asked about the claims that he wore a buzzer under his uniform, Altuve said he wasn’t upset about the speculation, and noted that MLB didn’t find evidence in their investigation.
.@JoseAltuve27 on the speculation on social media he was wearing an electronic device: “I wasn’t upset to be honest..We all know some people made that up. The best thing that happened to me was that MLB investigated that & they didn’t find something..U can’t control everything.” pic.twitter.com/dNhBDv2mAL
