At first I thought it was on purpose, but then considering the heart to win the Astros have, thought better of it. My answer is no.
Yordan's actions are what impressed me most about this incident. He may be the only one who could have done what he did, it gave me a little incite into what kind of guy he is and made me proud of him. By the way hitting Garcia was an old school move by an old school manager and catcher. I do not care much for Dusty but this was a move that should give you pause if you doubt that the players love him.
The more time passes the more I believe it was intentional. Initially I thought there’s no way they’d bean a guy in a 2 run playoff game. But between Abreu and Maldy not matching up on their explanation and Baker’s comments, I think it probably was intentional. And I do think there should be some heavy penalties for throwing a ball 97 mph with the intention of hitting a person. That said, **** Garcia and **** the Rangers. If Garcia’s composure was that fragile, and if Leclerq can’t pitch after sitting for a few minutes, they didn’t deserve to win. No one will argue that if Garcia had kept his composure that the Rangers probably win that game. Only Abreu knows for sure, but the real change in outcome was due to choices Garcia made.
Your imagination is whack if you think the Astros will hit someone, on purpose, to put 2 on base being behind 2 runs in bottom of the 8th with no outs...in the LCS. You're crazy.
If you think that was intentional then you must also believe the Astros thought the game was already over and had nothing to lose. There is no way the Astros had already given up and had Abreu throw at him and risk their star reliever getting suspended for game 6 down 3 games to 2.
I have a hard time believing he'd get hit on purpose at such an important moment, but certainly happy he did it with hindsight. The more I think on it, the more I do think Abreu just gave zero ****s did it anyway. I've got nothing against Garcia's HR celebrations against us. They've been huge plays. I like to see that excitement. I also like hitting him or at least brushing him back to send a message back as long as he's not hit in the head or hand.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was peeved at how long it took to sort everything out, which he believes might have been part of the reason for Jose Leclerc not being sharp when he came back out for the ninth inning. "The whole thing is a bunch of crap, to be honest, what happened there," Bochy said. "Who knows what intensions are, but it's not the first time it's happened and couldn't get the game going again. And I'm sure it affected him, because he came in to get an out there in the eighth inning. Maybe that played a part in it." https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38706389/benches-pens-clear-astros-pitch-drills-rangers-garcia Spoiler
It all started with the showboating, no need to stand that long. Rangers know this so they can complain all they want but that's the whole ignition of the situation. He was probably going to face some chin music at some point but seems a bit too obvious on the first pitch. (surprised that a warning was not giving on Dubon's pitch, not really that close but enough given the situation) Just my two cents...
I may be the only person here who thinks of Bochy as an Astros Catcher. But for some reason he stands out in my memory, though his time here was brief. (1978-1980)
I get why he thought it was on purpose, that's exactly the kind of thing the Rangers would do and have done, but given the situation it's VERY unlikely it was on purpose. Now if it happened when the Astros were up 3 rather than down late in game 5, that would change things.
I think he did. I mean, he will never ever admit it, and I'm positive Dusty had nothing to do with it, but it's way too much of a coincidence. I'm also pretty sure that one of our guys is going to pay for it as soon as the situation allows. That's just baseball. Someone is going to get drilled over it.
Again it's game 5 of the ALCS (tied 2-2) and they're down two runs. All the Astros had to do in the 9th was get ONE runner on base to bring the tying run to the plate (knowing Altuve would be hitting and possibly Bregman) but they said screw that, let's show Garcia you don't show us up and let's intentionally hit him and put men at 1st and now 2nd with no outs?? Also there's a HUGE difference between a two run lead and a three run lead (and the possibility of them extending the lead to three runs would've gone up again with two runners on and no outs)?? Then you have an idiot comment on here that the Astros probably were thinking they were "likely going to lose anyway" (only down two runs) so let's intentionally bean Garcia because how dare anyone show us up?? Throw in they have Eovaldi going in game 6 and we have a struggling Framber and if we're down 3-2 it means we have to win both games and they're going to let their emotions supercede smart baseball and bean Garcia and who cares if there's now two on and no outs. Some of you don't know what this team is all about. This wasn't some game in August. They still had three outs and they certainly weren't going to do anything to reduce their chances of possibly tying it up in the 9th. Oh but Wulaw has a friend who says it was intentional so it must have been. Good grief!!
But he got the next 3 batters out after the Altuve homer. Maybe it took him a while to get loose. Sorry Bruce. You lost. Why not bunt Semien with 2 on and no outs in the bottom of the 9th?
Exactly. Too big of a coincidence. It happened *first* pitch of his *next* AB after an extreme showboat. Winning this game was highly unlikely. Plus Abreu has enough game to escape 2 on, no outs. Astros stole a game. Glad Garcia was hit. Switch the jerseys and everyone saying it wasn't intentional would say the opposite. I'm unbiased. .
God damn right they did it on purpose. And it likely propelled us to the World Series. I still would’ve been optimistic. Going home down a game, but I feel really pretty confident now. Garcia is a b****. All of his showboating is crazy and ultimately motivated us.
