WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — The long-awaited, spring training-opening World Series rematch between the virtuous Washington Nationals and the villainous Houston Astros arrived Saturday night like you might expect a typical opening exhibition season game — meaninglessly.
Even worse — rain-delayed meaninglessness, until finally, after just 29 minutes of baseball in two innings and 93 minutes of Florida rain, it ended with a whimper.
We have assigned every step of the Astros’ 2020 season to likely have thunder and lightning accompanying it, in light of the unprecedented furor over the Astros’ cheating scandal that revealed the team had used an elaborate “Codebreakers” scheme to help them steal opposing teams signs during their World Series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Players have spoken out like never before against the Astros, who were already one of the most despised teams in baseball without the cheating scandal. National League MVP Cody Bellinger said they “stole” the series from the Dodgers, and, like many others, believed Houston cheated all the way through the 2019 World Series against the Nationals.
And even though the Nationals won the series in seven games, their players as well have felt empowered to criticize the Astros and the lack of punishment from Major League Baseball against the players involved in the cheating scandal — which, if you are being fair, means everyone who on that team who knew about it and benefitted from it, even if they declined to directly participate.
“If you cheat, you cheat,” Howie Kendrick, who drove a stake in the Astros heart with his two-run home run in Game 7 of the World Series, said last week. “There’s no fairness in that. Obviously you have a choice. You either choose to do it, or you don’t. And obviously they chose to do it, and they should have to live with those consequences. Nobody’s going to have any remorse for you.
“And going out and putting out public service announcements and things like that, I don’t think that’s really cool. You got caught doing something. I think you should just be quiet, go about your business and let your play talk. If you weren’t doing it, and you’re honest that you weren’t doing it. We’ll find out this season. They’ve got a lot of really good players, and obviously they win without doing a lot of that stuff. The fact they actually got caught doing it, it just makes them look that much worse.”
Remember, the Nationals WON the World Series — and they still have resentments, though likely not enough to do anything about it on the baseball field.
There was no thunder and lightning Saturday night — just rain.
Some fans wondered if starting pitcher Max Scherzer would deliver his own brand of justice the first time Houston hitters took the field. That’s not Scherzer’s style, though. His idea of punishment would have been to strike out the six batters he faced in the two innings he pitched and then stomp around on the mound. He didn’t get that opportunity, but managed to get through the first two innings scoreless, striking out two, walking one and giving up one hit.
The Astros had nothing to fear from Scherzer. “We won the World Series,” he said. “It’s not like I’ve got a vendetta to hold. For me, we are just trying to move forward and get ready for our season.”
Earlier in the day, on the show I co-host with Nick Ashooh on 106.7 The Fan, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said not to expect any beanball wars from Washington.
“Our mantra going into this is why would we risk hurting somebody on our team or someone getting suspended for doing some retribution that had no impact on us?” Rizzo said. “I don’t know what the players think about or talk about on their own. My advice to them will be the best retribution is to win another championship. When you start this hitting people with pitches … we drill them or they drill us. What happens if (Trea) Turner gets hit on the finger again or (Juan) Soto gets hurt? It just doesn’t work for me. I know how we will handle it. We will try to get our retribution by beating teams and winning another championship.”
Scherzer, though, didn’t face the cheating lineup. Former Nationals manager Dusty Baker, hired to save the credibility of the Astros on and off the field after manager A.J. Hinch was fired, kept all the public enemies on the bench for game one. Guys in the Houston lineup Saturday night were more likely to empty trash cans in the clubhouse than bang on them to signal pitches.
“I’m curious about most of them because I don’t know them,” Baker, who was hired just three weeks ago, told reporters. “I’m more curious about the young players that may help us at the start of the season or as the season goes on, so you can have some input on the decision of who is on your team.”
Some people believe the Astros should be forced to put this second-tier lineup on the field all season.
Does Baker think he is going to run out of players before the season starts from taking opposing pitchers’ fastballs to the ribs?
That’s not likely.
Despite fears of retribution, the Astros play a mild spring training schedule that consists, for the most part, of the Nationals, the nearby St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins in Jupiter, and the New York Mets further up the road in Port. St. Lucie. Maybe the Mets will be mad because their new manager, Carlos Beltran — the identified ringleader of the cheating scandal during his time in Houston — was fired as a result of his role in the cheating scheme before he ever managed a game for New York.
But, for the most part, there are no teams with grudges on the Astros’ spring schedule, so if there are battles, they will be sparked by general outrage. The retribution that baseball fears will likely come during the regular season from American League opponents — those who feel personal anger towards the Astros, based on the belief that somehow they were cheated out of something rightfully theirs — mainly money. And baseball is worried. Baker has already asked Major League Baseball to “put a stop to this seemingly premeditated retaliation that I’m hearing about.”
Manfred’s message to the teams so far has put them on notice. “Retaliation in game by throwing at a batter intentionally will not be tolerated, whether it’s Houston or anybody else,” Manfred said in a news conference. “It’s dangerous and not helpful to the current situation.”
The commissioner, though, has little credibility left given the pathetic way he has handled the Astros cheating scandal, in refusing to come up with some more severe and substantial punishments against the franchise, thereby at least indirectly punishing the players Manfred claims he could not punish because of immunity granted in Major League Baseball’s probe.
So what is he going to do? Punish the players for trying to punish the players who weren’t punished?
The commissioner has no such control over the fans, and the Astros got a glimpse of what they can expect this season as the team that fans can’t wait to hate. Saturday night was technically an Astros home game in the park they share with the Nationals (whose home opener was Sunday in the same building), but you wouldn’t know it from the crowd. The ballpark was filled with Nationals fans, who booed the Astros every move in pre-game ceremonies. Astros security were seen confiscating signs from fans before they entered the ballpark — stealing signs, if you will.
The only moment of relief was when, while lining up on the field for the national anthem, Baker and his former player, Nationals manager Dave Martinez — who replaced Baker after he was not brought back after leading the Nationals to the NL East title in 2016 and 2017 — met at home plate for a warm embrace.
“I wanted to say hello,” Martinez said. “I played for Dusty his first (two) years as a manager (with the San Francisco Giants in 1993 and 1994). I love him. He is an unbelievable person. I wished him the best and welcomed him back to the game. Hopefully we will get together here in spring training, have a glass of wine… maybe he will give me one of his bottles.” (Baker has a wine vineyard, Baker Family Wines.)
Baseball is hoping that Baker can wrap his arms around the Astros and protect them from the thunder and lightning that is still likely to come. It is an impossible ask.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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