After being displaced due to the intense flooding and other damage from Hurricane Harvey, the Houston Astros finally returned home following a mid-week series at neutral Tampa against the Rangers. The AL West leaders returned to action in a doubleheader against the Mets and ended up sweeping the two games against the Mets. They did so as they were buoyed by a crowd that was more than eager to welcome their team back home after the storm.
The Astros made a strong return to Houston in the wake of Harvey
Sunday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at how the Astros rejoined the citizens of Houston in a glorious manner. Plus, two teams are extremely hot right now.
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
For starters, today was the first time that fans got to see Justin Verlander doing baseball activities while wearing Astros colors. It was just a session on the side before the game, but the fans were clearly excited to see Houston’s newest acquisition in action no matter what. It definitely looked like Verlander was appreciative of the welcome that he received from the grateful fans who showed up to watch.
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However, the best moment of the entire day occurred during the second inning of the first game. George Springer hit his 30th home run of the season on a laser to the Crawford Boxes. The homer put the Astros up by six and further energized the crowd that wanted nothing more than to see their hometown team back in action. Springer returned the love with a simple-but-emphatic motion as he crossed home plate. He slapped the “Houston Strong” patch on his jersey and pointed at the crowd. Again, it was a quick-and-simple gesture but it was still great to see.
The road to recovery from Hurricane Harvey is going to be a long and arduous one, but the good people of that city will at least have very good reason to get excited about their baseball team for the next month -- and hopefully for the month after that as well.
- The crew here at the SB Nation MLB mothership left it up to the readers to answer a fairly simple question: Who would you add to your team if you could add anyone as part of September call-ups?
- Giancarlo Stanton has now hit 52 home runs this season. The most impressive part is that almost all of them have been majestic shots of baseball glory, and this one was no different.
- Cleveland has risen above the muck and mire that is the AL Wild Card race by taking hold of their divison and never looking back.
- Meanwhile in the NL Wild Card race, the Diamondbacks are doing their best to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack by going on a long winning streak of their own.
- The Braves are absolutely not on a long winning streak, and it may be time to shut down Freddie Freeman after he made some discouraging comments concerning his wrist.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post has suggested that if the Yankees make the AL Wild Card game, they should send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound to make the start.
- The Tigers have finally definitively decided on a direction, and the rebuild is officially underway for them.
- Cody Bellinger is more-than-likely going to end the season as the Dodgers all-time leader in home runs by a rookie.
- Wilmer Flores was forced to leave the game after he fouled a ball off of his face and ended up a bloody mess. What a season for the Mets.
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