FILE PHOTO: Jul 24, 2020; Oakland, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon (70) calls out to the umpires during the eighth inning against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon awaits the arrival of reigning American League champion Houston this weekend and doesn’t plan to recreate the drama that played out between the Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers this week.

Friday is the first meeting between the American League West division foes since the Astros were found guilty of a sign-stealing ploy that helped the team beat the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.

Maddon said the Angels weren’t directly impacted by the Astros’ scandal.

“We’ve talked about playing baseball, straight up,” Maddon said. “That’s what I’m anticipating. That’s all I’m looking for. What happened (Tuesday), if you were immediately impacted by (the sign stealing), I could get it a little bit. But then you saw the commissioner’s response, regarding what happened. So you got to choose the method you want to incorporate, and I would prefer that we just go play baseball.”

Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly drew an eight-game suspension for throwing behind Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, then going inside on Carlos Correa, before shouting at Correa and making a mocking facial expression that led to both benches clearing.

Source: Reuters

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