What’s done can’t be undone…

LOS ANGELES — While Dodger fans are still reeling from the loss of Kenley Jansen, another big free agent signing has to be digested. Carlos Correa, the cocky, uber-talented Astros* shortstop for the last half-dozen years is now a member of the Minnesota Twins. With his departure, that leaves only three prominent position players of the 2017 World Series team left in Houston: Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, and Yuli Gurriel. In addition, only two pitchers from that 2017 Houston staff are still with the ball club, Lance McCullers Jr. and Justin Verlander. So, given the turnover in the Houston lineup, is it right for us Dodger fans to continue our hatred of the ‘Stros?

Correa was the face of Trashcan-gate

I have to admit, hating the Astros was a whole lot easier when Correa was in the lineup. His brash nature and in-your-face confidence just rubs people the wrong way. But even that would have been forgivable if he’d shown even a scintilla of remorse for his role in the biggest sports scandal of this century. But he never did. Instead, we got shrugs, pleas of innocence and this, which I personally will never forget…

Remaining Astros* a mixed bag

But now he’s a Minnesota Twin. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out of town, Carlos. So now what? Bregman certainly has a big ol mess of that swagger that brings a lot of boos. Gurriel is a great hitter, but who could forget the little low-key racism he threw from the dugout at Yu Darvish in the series? Not cool.

Altuve is a more difficult case. According to Andy Martino’s great book Cheated, Altuve was the least into it of all the Astro hitters. In fact, he specifically asked not to be given any signals of incoming pitches because it threw him off. Still, one would think that if he’d shown even an ounce of leadership, he could have shut down the cheating pretty quickly, regardless of what Carlos Beltran or Alex Cora might have done. And he chose not to. So even if he didn’t benefit from the bangs on the trash can, he certainly didn’t seem to mind it happening (For more on Martino’s book, check out this episode of the Bleed Los podcast in which he breaks down the whole ugly mess for us).

As for the pitchers, McCullers was a pretty young guy at the time, only in his third season in the bigs. And he was a pitcher, so it’s hard to fault him for what happened. Verlander joined the team at the deadline when the trashcan scheme was in full swing, and you might think that he’d get a pass for having just joined the team. Still a guy with Hall of Fame bona fides like Verlander probably could have shut it down if he got together with manager AJ Hinch. But again, he chose not to. Another failure of leadership. And what’ s the old saying, the only evil needs to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Last season was intense

I was at both those Houston games last season, when Dodger fans got their first chance to tell the Astros* in person just what we thought about the way they went about their business in 2017. They were among the most intense and electric regular season games I have ever attended at Dodger Stadium. The second game particularly, which featured a stellar Dodger debut for newly acquired Max Scherzer, was off the charts fantastic.

The Dodgers don’t play the Astros* at all in 2022, as the team will be playing inter-league games against the AL Central this year. Houston will be back in town in 2023, and I imagine the passion will have died out a bit by then. However, the Twins and Carlos Correa will be playing at Dodger Stadium this year, August 9-10. So LA fans will have another opportunity to not “shut the f*ck up”. Have at it, Dodger fans….

We leave you, one last glorious time, the the moment we all fell in love with Joe Kelly: