I actually get a chuckle out of every single mention. It continues the “living rent free in the minds of other teams/fans” idea indefinitely. Sure every other good team was doing something similar. Sure it sucks that the Astros were pretty bad at cheating. Sure it stinks that they brought this upon themselves by being horrible to the press, tone deaf to the issues of the day and poor at crisis management. But, the league and its fans have this impression that the Astros have and will do anything to get an edge and letting that fester as long as possible can only be good for our team. Every neuron focused on that is one less focused on the game taking place in front of them.
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They raised the bar by being different and going deeper than other folks. Lately, they have come back to the pack. Also they decided to cut Auburn sports coverage by firing the beat writer as a cost savings during the pandemic.
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I still like the writing in The Athletic, but unlike HH, the constant crap about “cheating” and the “scandal” bothers me. A fucking whole lot it bothers me. That is the primary reason I cancelled.
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So, like Commissioner Manfraud.
At least he wrote the Yankees a letter.
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It was an autograph request.
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Probably a request for an autographed ball.
Or asking for his own back
Bringing up an old topic. I’ve wavered on cancelling a number of times but the quality of the writing remains high relative to the local Houston rags and certainly the national media.
To wit, you rarely see this kind of stuff in the Chronicle and the like:
After Bregman and Verlander finished it, attention turned to a roster posted on one of the clubhouse doors.
Next to every player’s name was his major-league service time. Second-year shortstop [Jeremy Peña] marveled at the “17” written next to Verlander’s name. Those with a “0” debated who would be tasked with rookie rites of passage, be it fetching coffee for veterans or some other menial task. Verlander wondered aloud if that meant everyone would get coffee for him. After all, no one on the roster has more service time.
Brantley is second to Verlander on the service time hierarchy. During the discussion, he emerged from the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee and handed it to Verlander. The entire clubhouse erupted in laughter.
“It’s super exciting to join my friends again and a team that’s fighting for a championship and in a really intense run coming down the stretch,” Verlander said.
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I enjoyed listening to Verlander talk about getting the full rookie treatment after winning his first World Series game last year. He’s obviously a guy who is well liked and enjoys being around his teammates.
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