In a series of tweets, LA-based fans expressed their displeasure with the Astros’ decision to move from Houston to Los Angeles. The Astros are one of the most popular teams in the MLB and have been since their inception.
The who owns the dodgers is a question that has been circulating for quite some time. The answer to the question is actually complicated and not easily answered.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — On Tuesday night, inflatable gray trash cans adorned Dodger Stadium, bouncing around the crowded rows of seats like beach balls. A few of them, as well as some of the Houston Astros’ foul balls, made it into the field of play. The sold-out audience of 52,692 booed wildly as a public address announcer threatened ejections for supporters throwing items. The audience booed Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa considerably louder and more vociferously each time they came to bat, with the relentless intensity one would anticipate from at least 19 months of pent-up anger.
The passion of the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn’t be justified in the end. They only managed five hits in a 3-0 loss to Lance McCullers Jr. and a pair of Astros relievers in one of the season’s most anticipated matchups, but the message from their supporters was clear.
Dusty Baker, the Astros’ manager and a former Dodgers outfielder, described the mood as “playoff-like.” “The Dodgers have a devoted following. They do, in fact, bleed Dodger Blue, as I saw. It was a lot of fun. It’s not often that I wish I could participate in a game since I’ve been so long since I’ve done so, but this is one of those games.”
On Tuesday night, a number of inflatable trash cans were among the items hurled from Dodger Stadium’s bleachers onto the field during L.A.’s game against the Astros. USA TODAY Sports’ Gary A. Vasquez
When Mookie Betts, who was playing second base as a precautionary measure due to a strained hip, made a full-extension diving grab in the fifth inning, the Dodger Stadium crowd exploded. It came to life once again when Walker Buehler stranded a runner and maintained a 1-0 lead for the 21st time in 22 starts this season by pitching six innings. It gasped when Cody Bellinger, who was struggling with a.165 batting average in the majors, hit a long fly to center field that ended in a flyout. When Altuve botched a flip in the fourth inning and was picked off in the seventh, the crowd erupted in shouts and boos. When the final out was recorded in the bottom of the ninth, it let out a collective sigh.
The Astros advanced to 65-42 in the American League, while the Dodgers fell to 64-44 in the National League West, 3 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants for first place.
After reducing his ERA to 2.16, Buehler remarked, “They maintained the noise, which is a tip of the cap to our supporters.” “Obviously, there were a few pauses throughout the game due to various events on the field. We understand. It’s an odd situation because I believe the feeling is justified, and I don’t believe there’s anything we can do to alter it. However, it had a very different atmosphere and vibe than most baseball games.”
The Astros’ sign-stealing methods during their championship-winning 2017 season were revealed by The Athletic in November 2019 and confirmed by Major League Baseball’s investigation in January 2020, which included deciphering catchers’ signs through a special monitor and communicating them to hitters by banging on a trash can. As a consequence, three interim managers, A.J. Hinch, Alex Cora, and Carlos Beltran, as well as Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, were dismissed. The players, on the other hand, were spared punishment because MLB gave them amnesty in return for their testimony.
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The Dodgers’ players were enraged after losing seven World Series games to the Astros. Their followers felt the same way, and it wasn’t until Tuesday night that they were able to express it completely.
In the next COVID-19-shortened season, the Dodgers faced the Astros four times, although supporters were not permitted in the stands. Houston’s Minute Maid Park provided as the background when the two clubs met earlier this season. In late May, a significant number of Dodgers supporters attended the games. Others stood outside Dodger Stadium’s gates with placards, trash cans, and megaphones, waiting for the Astros’ bus to arrive in September and October 2020. It was all part of the building to the climax on Tuesday.
“The animosity is still there, mainly because the players were spared — no punishments, a minimal fine for the company since that’s all Rob Manfred was authorized to do,” said Clint Pasillas, lead editor of Dodgers Nation, a prominent fan site. “And, in my view, the players’ handling of the situation has further enraged supporters, as well as us personally. The way Altuve and Carlos Correa have handled it, the way they’ve gone about with that confidence as if they accomplished something exceptional when the statistics indicate you didn’t, it’s incredible.”
Fans were given pamphlets directing them on particular anti-Astros chants in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Fans donned T-shirts honoring Joe Kelly, the Dodgers reliever who threw near Correa’s head, made a pouty face on his way back to the dugout, and became a cult figure as a result — and referring to their opponents as the “Trash-stros.” Some others even dressed up as “Oscar the Grouch,” the iconic Sesame Street character who lives in a trash can. Hundreds more waved orange foam asterisks in the air.
The booing for Altuve and Correa started as soon as they entered the batter’s box for a session of pregame batting practice, some 90 minutes before the first pitch. They kept going when they returned to the field to stretch an hour later, and they didn’t stop for the rest of their nine plate appearances.
“Obviously, there was a lot of boos,” said McCullers, one of five current Astros who were on that 2017 squad. “I had a good time.”
However, Dodgers catcher Will Smith acknowledged that all the stoppages in play caused by baseballs and garbage cans spilling onto the field may have put Buehler off his game. Fans sitting near the right-field bullpen were throwing “essentially entire drinks at guys for a half an inning” two-thirds of the way through the game, according to Astros reliever Ryne Stanek, who earned the save in the absence of Ryan Pressly, who is on paternity leave.
Despite this, the Astros hung in there. They’ve been booed everywhere this season, including at Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, and Angel Stadium, where an actual trash can was thrown into the warning track, and they’re still in first place.
Astros reliever Blake Taylor remarked, “It takes a great guy to put on an Astros uniform.” “You can’t manage it if you can’t take the criticism you’ll receive at every stadium we visit — it’s difficult. It’s a difficult thing to expect a large group of men to accomplish. But the group we have right now is all in on it. They are aware that they are not alone in their struggles. Every single individual in this clubhouse is booed every time we go onto the field, and they are referred to as “cheaters” and other derogatory terms. So, at the end of the day, we’re simply one huge family that will always have each other’s backs.”
