The Houston Astros’ apology tour continues to go about as smoothly as a Model T going over a road full of potholes.
In a wide-ranging interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Astros star Carlos Correa blasted Los Angeles Dodgers star and reigning NL MVP Cody Bellinger over some eye-opening comments he made Thursday taking aim at the Astros and Jose Altuve.
Bellinger said that Altuve stole the 2017 MVP from Aaron Judge due to the sign-stealing scandal that was running rampant within Houston’s clubhouse and dugout during that time, and said the Astros stole the World Series as well.
On Saturday, Rosenthal released his interview with Correa, who took offense to Bellinger’s comments.
“Cody, you don’t know the facts. Nobody wants to talk about this but I’m going to talk about this. José Altuve was the one guy that didn’t use the trash can,” Correa said, speaking with Rosenthal. “The few times that the trash can was banged was without his consent and he would go inside the clubhouse and inside the dugout to whoever was banging the trash can and he would get pissed. He would get mad. He would say, /I don’t want this. I can’t hit like this. Don’t you do that to me.’ He played the game clean.”
Correa also said that Altuve “never cheated” and blasted Bellinger for dragging him down.
“For him to go out there and defame José Altuve’s name like that, it doesn’t sit right with me. The man plays the game clean. That’s easy to find out. Mike Fiers broke the story. You can go out and ask Mike Fiers, ‘Did José Altuve use the trash can? Did José Altuve cheat to win the MVP?’ Mike Fiers is going to tell you, straight up, he didn’t use it. He was the one player that didn’t use it. Josh Reddick, Tony Kemp, those guys they didn’t want the trash can at all. So when he sits there and talks about Altuve, it’s not facts.”
Additionally, Correa took offense to the notion that the Astros continued to cheat in 2018 and 2019, saying they stopped after the 2017 season. When confronted by Rosenthal on the facts, he conceded that the thing they actually stopped was the trash can-banging method of cheating (more on that here).
Correa also denied that anyone ever used buzzers and defended Altuve over the notion he refused to let his teammates take his shirt off in a now-infamous video that’s gone viral 10 times over.
Also, and this isn’t all that surprising, Correa still thinks the Astros deserved to win the World Series in 2017, despite the cheating. That’s something most would disagree with, along with the fact that none of the players involved in this scandal were disciplined.