For better or worse, the Astros and its individual components are the villains of the 2020 season. Some of them, like Josh Reddick and Lance McCullers, have seemed to embrace that. George Springer, too, seems to want to shut the haters up, but he was spectacularly unsuccessful on Wednesday afternoon against the Mets.
Facing lefty Justin Wilson with two outs, Springer stepped to the plate in the top of the third inning for his second at-bat of the ballgame. Springer was lustily booed by fans in Port St. Lucie. Seemingly intent on proving the crowd wrong for booing him, Springer took a hefty cut at a first-pitch fastball. He swung out of his shoes trying to hit a home run, falling to a knee, much to the delight of the jeering crowd.
George Springer is showered in boos as he steps to the plate, tries to hit a ball far to silence the crowd and falls to a knee pic.twitter.com/HhRXIBOGyj
— SNY (@SNYtv) February 26, 2020
Springer would ground out to third base to end the inning. He later singled in the fifth inning, finishing the day 1-for-3.
At least, for the Astros, they have spring training to get all the jitters out of the way in their newfound role as the villain. It will be quite interesting to see their reception at road games during the regular season and, more importantly, during the playoffs -- should they get there again.
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