Texas
Victim Blaming Houston Astros Fans Continue To Nonsensically Boo Texas Rangers Slugger Adolis Garcia
HOUSTON — Houston Astros fans are still proudly booing Adolis García.
And still, nine months later, it makes almost no sense.
Each time the Texas Rangers slugger stepped into the batter’s box, the 39,666 fans in attendance Friday night at Minute Maid Park lustily booed him as if he was Kermit Washington, Sam Wyche, or Bud Adams (ask your parents, kids!)
Let’s review: It’s the eighth inning of Game 5 of the 2023 American League Championship Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington between the Rangers and Astros. The series is tied 2-2, and Garcia’s three-run homer off Justin Verlander gave Texas a 4-2 lead in the sixth.
In Garcia’s next at-bat in the eighth, Astros reliever Bryan Abreu nailed Garcia with a first-pitch 99 mph fastball in the left shoulder.
Everyone in the building knew Abreu was throwing at Garcia. Why? Maybe the Astros didn’t like the way Garcia celebrated his home run, which included spiking his bat into the ground after walking halfway to first base, admiring the moment. All of Garcia’s reactions were right in front of and directed at his teammates in the Texas dugout. Nothing disrespectful transpired.
Abreu and Garcia were ejected, and Astros manager Dusty Baker was ejected for slinging his cap in disgust after a discussion with the umpiring crew. The six-man crew agreed that Abreu threw at Garcia with intent. MLB officials agreed, too, later suspending Abreu for two games and levying an undisclosed fine.
MLB officials “took into account the dangerous nature of the pitch and its potential impact on player safety,” a league release said at the time.
Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer in the ninth to give the Astros the win and a 3-2 edge in the series headed back to Houston.
This is when the superfluous, nonsensical booing of Garcia began. Each time Garcia came to the plate in Game 6, Astros fans unleashed a torrent of boos seldom heard. As if Garcia was the villain in this Lone Star opera? No, not even close. He was the victim before he was the Astros’ executioner. Through his first four at-bats in Game 6, the booing seemed to be in Garcia’s head. He struck out four consecutive times, each at-bat bringing louder boos than the AB before. When he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the ninth and the Rangers leading 5-2, the boos were still coming.
Until the boos turned to gasps.
Garcia’s grand slam put an exclamation point on the Rangers’ 9-2 win to force a decisive Game 7. Garcia was 4 for 5 with two more homers and five RBI in the Rangers’ 11-4 Game 7 win en route to their first World Series championship.
Garcia’s first homer in Game 7 came against Hunter Brown.
In the fourth inning Friday night, Brown hit Garcia with a 1-0 fastball in the arm. There were no benches clearing or even words exchanged as Garcia took first base.
Astros fans, however, continued their nonsensical boos as if Garcia has done something untoward at some point.
I’m not oblivious to the history of booing at sporting events. It’s not a bad thing, necessarily. I just prefer the boos to make a little sense.
Garcia was the victim of a dirty pitch and then he punished the Astros in the next two games. He says he’s flattered by the boos, and he seems to enjoy the attention. But that doesn’t mean it makes sense.
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on X @StefanVersusTex.
Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and X.
NORTH TEXAS – This week’s snow event will end with a “few flurries” during Friday’s morning commute, according to CBS News Texas meteorologist Jeff Ray.
“But roads will have frozen over,” Ray said.
Expect hazardous road conditions in the morning, as it will be “the worst” the roads have been since the event started on Thursday morning, Ray said.
Late in the morning, temperatures will rise above freezing, which will “help drivers get around the Metroplex,” Ray said.
A cold front is expected Friday, he said.
“We are going to have wind chills in the 20s all day,” Ray said. “By nightfall on Friday, temperatures will drop quickly and water will re-freeze on the roads across the evening. This ice will remain until mid-morning on Saturday before the sun and warmer temperatures in the mid-40s clear the roadways.”
CBS News Texas will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.
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South Carolina women’s basketball hosts its SEC home opener against Texas A&M on Thursday evening. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.
1. Missing Ashlyn
South Carolina announced on Tuesday that junior forward Ashlyn Watkins will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Staley let Watkins tell the team about her injury, and then the coaches have tried to push forward.
“We just keep it moving, try not to harp on it too much because it’s felt,” Staley said. “The more you move on, the more they move on – and our players have to move on. It’s a part of it.”
I broke down how South Carolina will try to replace Watkins here.
Staley said, “Only time will tell” the impact of Watkins’ absence, but it is definitely an opportunity for Maryam Dauda, Adhel Tac, and Sakima Walker to step into a new role.
“Sometimes, when you remove someone as big as Ashlyn from your equation, other people have an opportunity,” Staley said. “And what they do with that opportunity, usually, they do something pretty good with it. We’ll work with them, and we’ll be patient with them.”
2. Spurtability
South Carolina’s strengths this season have been its bench and its transition game. In the first two SEC games, South Carolina pulled away with the second unit on the court getting stops and getting out in transition.
Watkins, with her ability to rim run with or without the ball, was a huge part of that. Her absence isn’t going to stop the Gamecocks from running, especially at home. Even without Watkins, the Gamecocks had 15 fast break points on Sunday.
That quick-strike ability has Texas A&M coach Jni Taylor worried.
“We have a saying around here that says, ‘before you know it,’” Taylor said. “If you keep doing the right thing, keep putting your head down, keep grinding, you look up and before you know it, you’ll be where you’re supposed to be. Likewise, if you don’t come out ready, if you are pouting, if you are feeling sorry for yourself, before you know it, you won’t be where you’re supposed to be. That’s one of those things at South Carolina. They’re a really good team. They play really well at home. We will be, flashback of last year here, we’ll be down 15 to zero before we can bat an eye if we don’t come out ready to go.”
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3. (Dress rehearsal)
Nobody is going to say it out loud, but Thursday’s game is an important tune-up for the Sunday showdown against no. 5 Texas.
Is Tac ready to battle Kyla Oldacre? Can Dauda’s shooting pull Oldacre away from the paint? Is there enough rim protection to keep Rori Harmon from getting easy layups, or do they need to get creative? Who should guard Madison Booker?
It’s a familiar refrain in these parts. Get the game in hand early so you have the fourth quarter to look at some different lineups.
“We let our players play through some stuff, and then you’ve got to look at the scoreboard,” Staley said. “If we’re holding serve on the scoreboard, and we’re up, more lenient to leave them out there to give them some minutes. But, if the scoreboard moves in an unfavorable way, then you got to get combinations out there that’s going to move it the opposite way.”
Texas hosts no. 18 Alabama on Thursday night, so the Longhorns can’t afford to look ahead. But we can.
[USC-Texas WBB: Win tickets, parking]
4. Availability report
Maddy McDaniel and Sakima Walker were both listed as OUT on the Wednesday evening Availability Report.
McDaniel has not played since the holiday break after suffering a concussion. Walker has not played since the Iowa State game and hasn’t been available since the TCU game with an ankle injury. Both have started participating in practice this week but obviously are not yet full-speed.
Vanessa Saidu is listed as OUT for Texas A&M. She has yet to play this season. Amirah Abdur-Rahim is listed as questionable.
Side note: Because Watkins has been declared out for the season, she is not included on the availability report.
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5. Scouting the Aggies
The Aggies are one of the three SEC teams that haven’t reached 10 wins yet. There are a lot of good players on the roster – anyone in the country would take Lauren Ware, Sahara Jones, and Janae Kent – plus a great scorer in Aicha Coulibaly, but the sum of the parts hasn’t been quite where it needs to be.
However, Texas A&M is coming off an upset of then-25th-ranked Ole Miss on Sunday. The win was a 60-58 rock fight in which Ole Miss shot 0-12 in the fourth quarter, but that fits Joni Taylor’s defensive mindset.
‘I think that we’ve been able to show really good spurts defensively of how we can impact the game,” Taylor said. “To hold Ole Miss or any team, for that matter, without a field goal in the fourth quarter is really impressive, and I think it just shows, again, what we are capable of.”
Coulibaly has been a thorn in the Gamecocks’ side before. She scored 32 points and grabbed six rebounds against the Gamecocks in the SEC tournament quarterfinals last season. Coulibaly had no problem getting to the basket and drawing fouls, going 13-15 from the line. And that was with Watkins and Kamilla Cardoso guarding the rim.
“Coulibaly is the one that we haven’t solved playing against her,” Staley said. “I do think they’re better. They’re playing more cohesive. They’ve got some bigs that do what bigs do. They have guards that are a year older, some transfers that have played in our league, so … formidable. And then, they’re coming off a big win against Ole Miss.”
Texas A&M freshman Taliyah Parker was a high school teammate of Tac’s at South Grand Prairie. Parker has appeared in all 14 games this season and averages 5.3 points and 2.4 rebounds.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (14-1, 2-0) vs Texas A&M (8-6, 1-1)
When: 5:00 EST, Thursday, January 9
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
Watch: ESPN2
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