Dusty Baker was super disappointed that Angels fans taunted the Astros with trash cans
Last year, the Houston Astros avoided much of the fallout from their cheating scandal thanks to an MLB season that was played behind closed doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Well, fans are back in the stands for 2021, and they didn’t forget about those Astros.
The Los Angeles Angels welcomed around 14,000 fans to Monday night’s game against Houston, and the hecklers turned out in full force. There were multiple stoppages when trash cans (both inflatable and actual trash cans) fell onto the playing field.
The fans also taunted and booed the Astros players incessantly throughout the game, which the Angels won, 7-6.
Angels fans throwing an inflatable trash can on the field. #WeBelieve pic.twitter.com/AE7Y8nkRbg
— Justin Groc (@jgroc) April 6, 2021
Another angle of the “trash can” and the Astros on the field, right beside a *know the signs* ad board
(Via @sam_berns97) pic.twitter.com/VcSMEgFCBL
— The Baseball Newsletter (@bbletter) April 6, 2021
But man, Astros manager Dusty Baker — who wasn’t around for the actual cheating — took the harsh treatment from the L.A. faithful hard. He went as far as to call the scene a “sad situation for America.”
This was how he reacted after the game:
Dusty Baker responded to the fan hostility: "How many in the stands had never done anything wrong in their life…?" pic.twitter.com/ko4cq7oJQV
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) April 6, 2021
Baker said:
“How many in the stands have never done anything wrong in their life? We paid the price for it. How many people have not cheated on a test or whatever at some point in time? I mean, it’s easy if you live in glass houses, but I don’t think anybody lives in glass houses.”
He continued:
“I think that sometimes we need to look at ourselves before you spew hate on somebody else. It’s a sad situation for America, to me, when you hear things – I mean what are the kids supposed to think in the stands? And some of them are kids that are following their parents. It’s sad to me. People make mistakes. We paid for ours, and I wish they’d leave it alone.”
While some of the heckling would still be there regardless, much of this hostile treatment to the Astros stems from the fact that they didn’t pay for their mistakes. MLB granted the players — the actual people who did the cheating — immunity in exchange for cooperation with its investigation.
Baker is, of course, standing up for his players, but his entire point overlooks that Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman escaped a massive cheating scandal with zero punishment beyond having to give an insincere apology. It’s also a bit disingenuous to equate cheating on a test to cheating en route to a World Series championship.
But really, Dusty, the inflatable trash can was funny. Just laugh it off and move on. It’s going to be that way all season on the road.