Houston Astros: There’s No Crying In Baseball…Right?

Joe Kelly began what’s sure to be a season of retaliation against the Astros, can they persevere or will they keep falling apart?

Well…that escalated quickly. You’d think Joe Kelly was throwing tridents and not baseballs by the Astros reactions. What were Dusty and then guys expecting when they faced off with the team that arguably was the most impacted by their trash can sonatas? Maybe they just expected some finger wags and “oh youuuu guys” type of chatter.

Was Joe Kelly’s pitch at Alex Bregmans head intentional? I’m honestly not sure. Kelly was all over the place with all his pitches, and normally he would just throw a fastball into the guys back if he’s throwing at him. Throwing at guys heads is usually frowned upon by all parties, and baseball is big on it’s unwritten rules. I’m much more inclined to believe if Kelly was trying to hit Bregman he aimed at his back and missed.

The other thing was that the score was still close at the time of the incident. If it was a blowout on either direction I’d also be much more convinced of intent. By putting Bregman on Kelly ensured the Astros would have an opportunity to bring the tying run to the plate, which eventually happened. In a short season nobody can afford to give away games, and if Correa’s liner two batters later was fair Kelly would have done just that.

Was Joe Kelly obnoxious?  Undoubtedly. The problem is the Astros obviously got into their heads about the situation and that’s going to be a problem if it continues. If you cheat your way to a championship and get caught, you should probably have thicker skin. “Nice swing B****” is going to be one of the tamer things Correa should expect to hear this season.

The Dodgers got the win on the field, and in Houstons head. After the game you could tell Bregman and company were furious. Dusty Baker should maybe take a minute and choose his words more carefully as well. Technically by stealing signs enroute to a title the Astros DID start it, and they would be best served to be quiet and take it for awhile.

I understand why Houston is angry, and it’s going to be doubly infuriating all year because every time something happens, the scandal is going to be brought up again. They won’t just be answering about what happened in the game, but will face more questions about cheating, and it’s repercussions in every post game presser. So my advice is for the team to accept they did being it on themselves, put their heads down and take it, and not take themselves out of games by reacting.