Nats cheered, Astros booed during rained-out spring opener

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - They came to cheer the defending World Series champs and boo the runners up. And they did so at every possible opportunity.

Any mention of the Nationals (technically, the visiting team) tonight in the Grapefruit League opener at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches - a game that wound up getting canceled after two scoreless innings due to a persistent rain that would not go away - was met with rousing cheers from the thousands of red-clad fans who made their way down from D.C. for the weekend.

And any mention of the Astros (technically, the home team) was met with resounding boos from those same red-clad fans, who outnumbered their orange-and-navy counterparts by a hefty margin.

This is how it's going to be for a while. The Nationals are the toast of Washington. The Astros are the scourge of baseball.

"It was kind of nice," Davey Martinez said. "Hey, fans are fans. We appreciate the applause and the cheers."

"There were a lot of Nationals fans here. We had a lot of fans here, too," Dusty Baker told reporters over in the Astros clubhouse. "You could tell who was for us and who was against us. But all in all, it wasn't too bad. You kind of expect to get some, but they weren't too bad."

That sentiment is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. The reaction the Astros got tonight in their first organized game since they were penalized by Major League Baseball for cheating during their 2017 championship season was pretty harsh, especially when you consider this was a spring training game and none of their regulars were playing.

Poor Cristian Javier. The 22-year-old pitching prospect with zero big league experience had the misfortune of leading his team onto the field for the first inning of the spring season and was greeted with a chorus of boos.

Javier actually pitched quite well, retiring all six batters he faced, three via strikeout (Michael A. Taylor, Yan Gomes and Andrew Stevenson). But that mattered little on this rainy night, which was less about the game result and more about the game environment.

Max Scherzer, who tossed two scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts, heard all the boos for the opposition. He even heard some fans banging on their seats, mocking the Astros' banging of garbage cans as a method of letting their hitters know what pitch was about to come via their video sign-stealing scheme.

Scherzer, as he does, brushed it all off. He's experienced more vocal crowds than that, most notably last April when he faced Bryce Harper for the first time as a Phillie.

"I figured something like that was going to happen," the ace said. "I got a good taste of what it's like to pitch in that, facing Harp last year. We had our whole crowd going. I thought our fans would boo, but I didn't realize it would get that loud facing Harp. I mean, that was a playoff atmosphere. Everything gets turned up a notch when the fans really get into it."

Despite threats from players on other teams of retaliation when they face the Astros this season, Scherzer never considered it. (The fact he was facing a bunch of guys with uniform numbers in the 70s, 80s and 90s probably contributed to that.)

"We won the World Series," Scherzer said. "It's not like I have a vendetta to hold. We're here. We're just trying to get ready for our season."

The evening began with an arguably ill-conceived series of scoreboard videos featuring the Astros' individual and team accomplishments in 2019. Fans wanted none of it and booed each honoree and game highlight, including Jose Altuve's pennant-clinching homer off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. (They conveniently left out the clip of Altuve crossing the plate and begging teammates not to tear off his jersey.)

When the public address announcement welcomed everyone to "tonight's game between the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals ... and the 2019 American League champion Houston Astros," the disparity in crowd reactions was stark.

Even Orbit, the furry, green alien-like creature that serves as Houston's mascot, was booed when he emerged on the field waving an orange flag.

Only one member of the Astros received a warm welcome. That was Baker, hired late last month to try to guide this team through all the chaos and still find a way to win. The former Nationals manager, returning to the dugout two years after he was let go, caught the ceremonial first pitch from a student at Palm Beach Lakes High School and got one of the biggest ovations of the night, prompting the 70-year-old to doff his cap.

And when the two teams lined up for the national anthem, Martinez made a point to approach Baker and warmly embrace his predecessor (and former manager when he played for the Giants in the early '90s). A few other Nationals also hugged Baker and offered well wishes to him.

"Love him," Martinez said. "He's an unbelievable person. I just wished him the best, welcome back to the game. Hopefully we'll get together during spring training, maybe grab dinner, have a glass of wine. Maybe he'll give me one of his bottles."

Then the teams proceeded to open the 2020 exhibition season. They managed to get two innings in over 29 minutes before the heavy rain arrived and forced the grounds crew to pull the tarp out.

At one point, they were planning to resume the game, but those plans were dashed when the rain picked up again around 8 p.m. After a delay of 93 minutes, the game officially was canceled.

They'll return Sunday afternoon to face each other again under better meteorological conditions.

The crowd conditions, however, may well be the same as they were tonight. Both teams might as well get used to it. The Nationals are going to be cheered a lot this spring. The Astros most definitely are not.