USA TODAY International Edition
Astros ready for ‘ wild’ Bronx visit for 1st time since cheating scandal
NEW YORK – Astros manager Dusty Baker has witnessed just about everything imaginable in the 5,627 games he has managed and played in his baseball career.
But beginning at 1 p. m. ET Tuesday when he boards the team bus from their New York midtown hotel, he’s bracing for an atmosphere of loathe and hatred.
“It is,” Baker said, “going to be wild.”
This is the first time the Astros are visiting New York since their infamous cheating scandal from their 2017 World Series championship team was publicly exposed, and certainly not many in the five New York boroughs have forgotten, much less in the 49 other states.
The Astros have been taunted, booed and cursed wherever they’ve gone on the road this season. In LA, Angels fans tossed inflatable and actual garbage cans on the field, as a reminder that the Astros banged on trash cans to signal which pitches were coming to their hitters at the plate.
Well, now that they’re at Yankee Stadium for a three- game series, that hostility is about to go to DEFCON 1.
“I’m sure we’re going to have some chaos,” Astros outfielder Myles Straw says, “but it’s nothing we haven’t heard this year. It’s going to be loud. But it seems like wherever a crowd is really loud and booing us, that’s when I feel like we play our best baseball. You can fire the boys up all you want. If they want to boo us, they can boo us.”
We’ll find out whether the Astros ( 15- 13) embrace the noise or wilt from it. But at some point, Baker says, the hate needs to stop.
“As far as I’m concerned, it should be over with,” Baker told USA TODAY Sports. “There are only five guys that are still on this team ( from 2017). So are people booing the player? Are they booing the organization? Or are they booing the uniform?”
What galls opposing players and fans is that no Astros player was punished in the scandal. General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A. J. Hinch were suspended and fired. Owner Jim Crane was fined $ 5 million. The Houston organization was stripped of its first- and second- round draft picks. But no player was suspended for a day or fined a penny.
“Guilt is the worst penalty that you can serve,” said Baker, who was hired to replace Hinch. “Public shame and guilt and remorse is equal to any punishment that you can ever get. I know from a couple of instances myself what public shame means to you and your family. You’d rather pay a fine than to suffer public humiliation and shame and guilt.”
It may be true, but guilt isn’t enough to satisfy the fans’ thirst for venom, hoping to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the Astros, even with limited capacity permitted at most ballparks during the pandemic.
“Well, there’s not a whole lot we can do about it,” Baker said. “You just hope nothing violent happens. Or nobody gets hurt.”
Hinch, who’s now managing the Tigers, was only mildly booed this past weekend in New York, but he was wearing a different uniform and sitting in a dugout and not playing in the field.
“The New York fan base is as passionate as any you could imagine,” Hinch said before their series. “In good times, in bad times, rivalries, love, hate, they encompass fandom. … I’m well aware I’m not the most liked person in New York. But I can’t do anything about it.”
Besides, Hinch paid a price. He lost his job, his dignity was damaged and, though he’s working again, he’s managing the worst team in the American League instead of staying at home.
Still, the Yankees remain incensed, with All- Star outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton insisting that the Astros should be stripped of their 2017 title.
They spoke openly about their disgust of the Astros during last year’s spring training camp.
“We know that they really don’t care to give an apology or explain their side,” Stanton said, “and it showed by their response. You know the repercussions of doing something like that. You’re really only sorry because you got caught.”
Baker, who was at home in Sacramento, California, and not managing in 2017, understands the anger and frustration. Cheating has gone on in this game forever. There are pitchers using foreign substances on their fingers to increase their spin rate. There are players using performance- enhancing drugs to make themselves bigger, stronger, faster and healthier.
And teams have always tried ways to beat the system. The Red Sox lost a second- round draft pick and their replay room operator was suspended for illegally transmitting signs using their instant replay monitors. The Yankees were fined for the illegal use of a dugout phone. Just about every team has tried something.
The Astros, far too brazen in their approach, simply got caught.
With no fans permitted during last year’s 60- game regular season because of the pandemic, this is the first time fans have had a chance to publicly voice their displeasure toward the Astros. They’re making up for lost time. “You can tell the amount of hostility and the amount of hatred in the stands,” Baker said last month. “How many in the stands have never done anything wrong in their life? We paid the price for it. How many people have not cheated on a test or whatever at some point in time. I mean it’s easy if you live in glass houses, but I don’t think anybody lives in glass houses.”
Baker, who says he was criticized for his statements, isn’t about to apologize for his sentiments. Time will ease the anger and hostility. He just hopes there’s some empathy along the way, too.
“I heard people jumping all over Michael Brantley the other day,” Baker said, “saying, ‘ Michael, you should be ashamed of yourself.’ He wasn’t even here ( he was playing for Cleveland). Come on.
“The main thing you can do is put on your big- boy pants, play ball and try not to worry about it. It’s tough to shut it out, but at the same time you have to. It’s part of being a professional.”
The Astros say they have no choice. If they let the taunts and boos get to them, they can only blame themselves.
“We’re just here to play baseball,” said All- Star third baseman Alex Bregman, who along with second baseman Jose Altuve may be booed the loudest. “Not worried. We got bigger things to worry about. Our job it to play baseball.”
The last time these two teams played, Altuve hit a walk- off homer off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in Game 6 of the 2019 American League Championship Series to put the Astros in the World Series.
Chapman stood on the mound in disbelief that Altuve hit his slider, with Altuve crossing home plate and telling his teammates not to rip off his jersey, as if there was something to hide.
Chapman called Altuve’s actions “suspicious,” but MLB investigators found no wrongdoing.
Now, they finally meet again.
Let the drama begin.