The Houston Astros were able to avoid the anticipated vitriol headed their way last season over the fallout from the team’s sign-stealing scandal with no fans in the stands at opposing ballparks due to the pandemic. It’s clear early on in the 2021 campaign, though, that opposing fan bases have not forgotten about the Astros’ well-established wrongdoings.
During Monday’s 7-6 road loss to the Los Angeles Angels, fans trolled the Astros with a bit of prop comedy. Trash cans were thrown on the field on two separate occasions. During the sixth inning, an inflatable trash can was deposited on the field. After it was removed, an actual trash receptacle followed.
Astros manager Dusty Baker was predictably perturbed over the trash-can trolling, saying the fans’ antics made for a “sad situation in America” after the game.
“You can tell the amount of hostility and the amount of hatred in the stands,” Baker said, via ESPN. “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.
“I think that sometimes we need to look at ourselves before you spew hate on somebody else. It’s a sad situation for America, to me, when you hear things — I mean what are the kids supposed to think in the stands? And some of them are kids that are following their parents. It’s sad to me. People make mistakes. We paid for ours, and I wish they’d leave it alone.”
The open hostility in Anaheim followed how the Astros were jeered during the team’s season-opening, four-game series in Oakland against the A’s. Suffice to say, if the treatment the Astros have already endured this season is any indication of what’s to come, the team is in for a long, long season on the road, much to Baker’s clearly evident disappointment.
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