The Houston Astros cheated and then basically brushed it aside, offering some half-hearted and meandering apologies at a trainwreck of a Thursday press conference.

As such, the topic of revenge has been discussed, with the idea that Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve and others are gonna have to be extra alert inside the batter’s box this year, since opposing pitchers have a chance to express their displeasure with the sign stealing scandal.

Via Bob Brookover the Inquirer, here’s Larry Bowa on the topic:

“Why wouldn’t you do anything about it? I’m not saying hit them in the head. I don’t want anybody to get killed, but hit somebody in the ribs and say, ‘If you want to keep doing it, we’re going to keep drilling you.’ That will stop it. Believe me, guys don’t want to get hit. But nobody did anything.”

…
“I’ll be shocked if some pitchers do not drill some of these guys this year,” he said. “If that doesn’t happen, this game has really changed. I know it has changed, but somebody has got to take some hits. Hit them in the ribs, hit them in the leg, whatever you have to do, but let them know you’re ticked off about what happened. What are they going to do? They can’t do a [bleeping] thing. They should be embarrassed by it all. They need to come out and say, ‘You know what, we made a big-time mistake.’ The way they are handling it is brutal.”

Gotta say, I agree with Bowa 100%. Sometimes the “unwritten rules” of baseball can be a little corny, but in this case, the Astros probably deserve every fastball that comes their way.

Not trying to kill anybody, as Bowa says, but there’s a message to be sent in a very demonstrative way.