Defensive whiz Kiermaier nurses injury
SAN DIEGO — Platinum Glove center fielder Kevin Kiermaier was not in Tampa Bay’s starting lineup for Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday, but manager Kevin Cash said he was available to enter the game off the bench in any capacity although he did not see
action.
“It’s sore. He’s going to continue getting treatment throughout the day and throughout batting practice,” Cash said.
Astros reliever Enoli Paredes plunked Kiermaier on the left wrist with a 99.2 mph fastball during the sixth inning of Tampa’s 5-2 win in Game 3. Kiermaier remained in the game to run the bases but was substituted defensively in the next halfinning. X-rays were negative and Kiermaier was diagnosed with a left hand contusion.
Kiermaier’s absence robs the Rays of their most premier defender. The three-time Gold Glove winner robbed Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa of surefire base hits on Wednesday.
Bregman’s first-inning fly ball seemed destined for at least a double, but Kiermaier leaped on the warning track to snare it. He dove to take extra bases away from Correa during the fourth.
“Of course we want them to fall and we want hits and we want wins, but I don’t really like the whole ‘We’re hitting it hard,’ ” Bregman said. “Luck is the residue of design. You create your own luck. They position themselves really well. They pitch really well. They take pride in defense (and) they’re an extremely solid defensive club. They’re playing really well.”
Sign stealing briefly steals Senate show
It’s been a while since the Astros played a game in D.C., but they were briefly the talk of Washington on Wednesday as a Nebraska Republican went on an extended rant against them in the middle of a confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's pick to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
“I’d like to talk about the Houston Astros, who are miserable cheaters,” U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse said, as he launched into a tongue-in-cheek diatribe.
“I think all baseball fans know the Houston Astros cheat,” Sasse said. “They steal signs, they bang on cans. They’ve done a whole bunch of miserable things historically and they deserve to be punished probably more than they have been.”
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican jumped in: “Thank goodness the First Amendment protects that right for him to express that erroneous opinion.”
“If you want to defend cheating that is certainly the prerogative of the senior senator — and the junior senator from Texas now rushes into the room to do some homerism,” Sasse responded, referring to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who could be seen on camera returning to his sea.
“It was going so well,” said U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, the Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sasse went on to suggest that the Astros, facing elimination against the Tampa Bay Rays, might “go to the umpire and try to persuade somebody to expand the strike zone just for Houston in the game tonight.”
“That would obviously be inappropriate right?” Sasse said, suggesting that’s essentially what Senate Democrats were doing throughout the confirmation hearings.
“I think that an umpire is supposed to apply rules fairly to both teams,” Sasse continued. “I think some of what we’ve seen in the questions … are trying to get an umpire to commit to a different set of rules for different teams.”
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner weighed in on Twitter: “Whether you are a Texas Democrat or Republican what Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said about the Houston Astros is unacceptable. There will be no Texas BBQ for him.”