As the dust settled on the benches of Sunday’s bench-sweeping between the A’s and the Houston Astros, the debt game began with a typical territorial tint.
A’s manager, Bob Melvin, said Ramón Laureano would not have paid the Astros dugout and started a Coliseum kerfuffle had ‘Stros hit coach Alex Cintrón not said anything offensive. Cintrón apparently said something about Laureano’s mother, and thus began the brouhaha.
AT&T Sportsnet Southwest analyst Mike Stanton did not see it that way. The 19-year-old MLB veteran and native Houstonian criticized Laureano, claiming the outfielders should have been shut down and running to first base after Astros pitcher Humberto Castellanos hit Laureano with a pitch.
“Go to first base, keep your mouth shut …” Uhhh.
The same “rookie pitcher” hit Laureano twice in the series.
And the other man that smote him was smitten before him.pic.twitter.com/k0A1o1qPLO
– Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) August 10, 2020
“You’re a team in the first place, and you have a four-game lead,” Stanton said Sunday on AT&T Sportsnet Southwest’s post-game show. “You’re about to whip your biggest rivals. The last thing you want to do is grab the bear. Well, they’re finishing the whip, but like I said, there’s just no room for that. This “was something that was completely uncalled for. It was a rookie pitcher throwing a breaking ball that hit you in the back. Go to first base, keep your mouth shut and finish the sweep.”
Stanton does not mention, as Brodie Brazil of NBC Sports California did in the above, that Castellanos hit Laureano twice. Brandon Bailey, who was sent the other way when the Astros traded Laureano to the A’s in 2017, also beat Laureano once. NBC Sports California analyst Dave Stewart thanked Houston funny on “A’s Postgame Live” last week, and, as Jimmy O’Brien noted in a video, Bailey liked Ben Ross’s tweet quotes Stewart. It’s not clear if that’s the reason O’Brien beat Laureano, but another hit-by-pitch certainly didn’t reduce tensions.
It does not matter what the causes of Sunday’s shift are, both the A’s and Astros will likely have discipline for the not-so-socially-distant donnybrook. “[Fighting] and combat settings are strictly prohibited “under MLB’s coronavirus protocols, and offenders who are disciplined will not reduce or prosecute their penalties based on the length of the (60-game) season. “
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The A’s and Astros play again in a three-game series starting on August 29th. Depending on the weight of the book MLB throws at each team, you would not necessarily expect a Friday night frack.
Then again, the teams watched the just fighting in the middle of a global pandemic, maybe a hootenanny from Houston is not off the table at the end of the month.
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