Home of the Braves
As Garth Brooks so eloquently sang in his popular song, "And the Thunder Rolls," so too have the Houston Astros continued their roll as the best team in the majors right now. Wrapping up a short two game sweep of the Atlanta Braves at that team's brand new Sun Trust Park, the spacemen are now up in the Great White North to begin a 4 game set with the Toronto Blue Jays. This will be the final series of the first half of the season before the All Star Break begins on Monday. Even a series split will guarantee the team 60 wins in the first half, with 73 games left to play in the second half.
On the positive side, the Astros offense continues it's juggernaut style of conquest, outscoring the Braves 26-8 through both games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though the Braves would tie it up in game 2 to put the spacemen on the ropes, the boys came right back to tack on 6 more runs that rest of that game. Day in and day out, they are constantly proving just why they are the best there is right now. The Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers may be rolling through the National League, but not a single American League team is anywhere close to what the Astros are doing. It's glorious, to say the least.
On the negative side, however, a moment that I thought would be incredibly glorious turned out to be anything but. You see, the #BearSquared duo of Brian McCann and your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis returned to Atlanta for the first time together as catching duo for Houston. From all accounts, BMac deservedly got a standing ovation. As per this tweet from Cody Dalton, Sports Editor of The One News:
Not to sound vein by any means, but where was the love for the bear? I mean, I get that BMac played there longer than he did, but why should that be any excuse for this poor showing of Gattis' first plate appearance back in Atlanta. And I'm not the only one that thinks so about this, either:
I cannot even begin to make my frustrations and disappointments more known about all of this. While I'm certain most will want to come at me again with everything they got, and I'll assertively fight back like I always do, a part of me can't help but wonder why a double standard keeps getting applied to the Big White Bear. And it's not even just the Atlanta fan base, but also the H-Town crowd. When Gattis had his struggles with on-base numbers and contact, everyone wanted to put the streaky label on him, and cast him as just another power hitter that gets lucky from time to time.
Now, he consistently makes contact, gets on base, and drives in or scores runs. Yet through all of this, everyone wants to downplay THAT, too. Saying things like, "If he were an everyday player, those numbers would be significantly lower." or "He's still not an everyday player because he has fewer home runs. He's better suited as a backup."
Where do these people get off saying nonsense like this?! How do they, or anyone else for that matter, know what can or will happen? The truth is, none of us do, not even me. But one thing is for sure, Evan Gattis always constantly busts his ass and gets zero respect from anyone. Evidence was made clear in this past Atlanta series, and probably will be the same scenario up in Toronto. I fully expect that A.J. Hinch will probably sit him for most of this upcoming series, and only allow him to play in the Sunday day game.
But this speaks volumes, once again, to the growing problem that keeps being swept under the metaphorical rug. And that is this, Evan Gattis has legitimate talent in this game as a catcher and a DH. The only problem is, he has paid his dues and yet has gotten almost next to nothing in return from the likes of either team he has been apart of. It's disgusting and heartbreaking at the same time that such a talent as the bear gets wasted in favor of a big contract in Carlos Beltran, whom I've dubbed the name Abuelo, Spanish for Grandpa, who is still hitting down in the .230s with an OPS under .700 on the year.
Meanwhile, Gattis is hitting in the mid .270s with an OPS just shy of .800, and keeps having to take a seat to Beltran. Why? Two things: a) Money talks, his $16 million dollar contract is the biggest of any player on the team. And b) he's a switch hitter, so that must automatically make him better, right? WRONG! Not this season. Most other ball clubs would have benched someone with Beltran's current numbers, regardless of contract, switch abilities, or hall of fame future.
But no, leave it to this Astros organization to keep trotting out the far inferior season hitter all because of the items I just mentioned above. Apparently, even the fans seem to be complacent with that, all because the team is riding the record breaking hot streak. What all fail to realize is that, Beltran has been much less apart of that success than Gattis has been. Especially, since El Oso Blanco is currently riding a 8 game hitting streak, batting .333 in that span with 3 home runs, 9 RBI and a 1.343 OPS, 1.000 of that slugging.
As I'm writing this, Evan Gattis is being benched, ONCE AGAIN! And against a lefty that he has averaged .500 against in his lifetime in Francisco Lindor. Seems as though this madness doesn't seem to want to end. I'm just gonna wrap this up for now. Otherwise, my head might explode! I don't know why I seem to always constantly be alone in all of this, outside of Evan's family, friends and wife, but it's agonizing me to the core. Something needs to give, and QUICK!
On the positive side, the Astros offense continues it's juggernaut style of conquest, outscoring the Braves 26-8 through both games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though the Braves would tie it up in game 2 to put the spacemen on the ropes, the boys came right back to tack on 6 more runs that rest of that game. Day in and day out, they are constantly proving just why they are the best there is right now. The Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers may be rolling through the National League, but not a single American League team is anywhere close to what the Astros are doing. It's glorious, to say the least.
On the negative side, however, a moment that I thought would be incredibly glorious turned out to be anything but. You see, the #BearSquared duo of Brian McCann and your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis returned to Atlanta for the first time together as catching duo for Houston. From all accounts, BMac deservedly got a standing ovation. As per this tweet from Cody Dalton, Sports Editor of The One News:
However, El Oso Blanco did not fair so well with the ATL welcomes. A friend of mine on Facebook, Doug Cooper, snapped some video of his recording of the game. To my dismay, there were hardly even any applause as Evan stepped into the batter's box for the first time. I was heartbroken, in all honesty. You can see the video for yourselves below:Catcher Brian McCann with a warm reception from the crowd here in Atlanta, but he pops up for the first out of the inning.— Cody Dalton (@CodyDaltonONE) July 5, 2017
Not to sound vein by any means, but where was the love for the bear? I mean, I get that BMac played there longer than he did, but why should that be any excuse for this poor showing of Gattis' first plate appearance back in Atlanta. And I'm not the only one that thinks so about this, either:
Sure, Braves fans might have felt a bit salty about losing big to the Astros these past two games. Perhaps, that may have contributed. But even still, is that any reason to neglect what Evan Gattis gave to that ball club and city for two seasons? Was the ATL so quick to trade him and forget him? Do they really just see him as yesterday's news.@kapaya1234 Pretty sorry reception for @BulldogBeing. Thought there would be HUGE applause if not a standing ovation.— Dogsfan62 (@dogsfan6211) July 6, 2017
I cannot even begin to make my frustrations and disappointments more known about all of this. While I'm certain most will want to come at me again with everything they got, and I'll assertively fight back like I always do, a part of me can't help but wonder why a double standard keeps getting applied to the Big White Bear. And it's not even just the Atlanta fan base, but also the H-Town crowd. When Gattis had his struggles with on-base numbers and contact, everyone wanted to put the streaky label on him, and cast him as just another power hitter that gets lucky from time to time.
Now, he consistently makes contact, gets on base, and drives in or scores runs. Yet through all of this, everyone wants to downplay THAT, too. Saying things like, "If he were an everyday player, those numbers would be significantly lower." or "He's still not an everyday player because he has fewer home runs. He's better suited as a backup."
Where do these people get off saying nonsense like this?! How do they, or anyone else for that matter, know what can or will happen? The truth is, none of us do, not even me. But one thing is for sure, Evan Gattis always constantly busts his ass and gets zero respect from anyone. Evidence was made clear in this past Atlanta series, and probably will be the same scenario up in Toronto. I fully expect that A.J. Hinch will probably sit him for most of this upcoming series, and only allow him to play in the Sunday day game.
But this speaks volumes, once again, to the growing problem that keeps being swept under the metaphorical rug. And that is this, Evan Gattis has legitimate talent in this game as a catcher and a DH. The only problem is, he has paid his dues and yet has gotten almost next to nothing in return from the likes of either team he has been apart of. It's disgusting and heartbreaking at the same time that such a talent as the bear gets wasted in favor of a big contract in Carlos Beltran, whom I've dubbed the name Abuelo, Spanish for Grandpa, who is still hitting down in the .230s with an OPS under .700 on the year.
Meanwhile, Gattis is hitting in the mid .270s with an OPS just shy of .800, and keeps having to take a seat to Beltran. Why? Two things: a) Money talks, his $16 million dollar contract is the biggest of any player on the team. And b) he's a switch hitter, so that must automatically make him better, right? WRONG! Not this season. Most other ball clubs would have benched someone with Beltran's current numbers, regardless of contract, switch abilities, or hall of fame future.
But no, leave it to this Astros organization to keep trotting out the far inferior season hitter all because of the items I just mentioned above. Apparently, even the fans seem to be complacent with that, all because the team is riding the record breaking hot streak. What all fail to realize is that, Beltran has been much less apart of that success than Gattis has been. Especially, since El Oso Blanco is currently riding a 8 game hitting streak, batting .333 in that span with 3 home runs, 9 RBI and a 1.343 OPS, 1.000 of that slugging.
As I'm writing this, Evan Gattis is being benched, ONCE AGAIN! And against a lefty that he has averaged .500 against in his lifetime in Francisco Lindor. Seems as though this madness doesn't seem to want to end. I'm just gonna wrap this up for now. Otherwise, my head might explode! I don't know why I seem to always constantly be alone in all of this, outside of Evan's family, friends and wife, but it's agonizing me to the core. Something needs to give, and QUICK!
Original Photo Credit: Stephen Brashear of Getty Images
Astros Organization: You are making a big mistake in under utilizing the bear. This needs to change in the second half, and I don't mean by trading him, either!!!!
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