Again, it isn't the booing that bothered some people, but the escalation to "Hawkins sucks" that seemed to be a bit too much. And Boras and Beltran kept Houston hostage all offseason by misleading them, and effectively handicapped the team going into the 2005 season by keeping them preoccupied until the offseason was all but over. He and his agent intentionally decieved the team and lied to the fans. That is far worse than what Hawkins did, IMO. Absolutely right. Holding a team hostage going into the season is better than blowing big game after big game down the stretch. How did he mislead them, btw? By saying he didn't want to play in New York, He wanted to stay in Houston, money wasn't the key issue, he forsaw staying in Houston etc. etc. etc. And after at the 11th hour the Astros proposed a deal which was rejected, but turned out to be nearly identical to the one he signed with the Mets, whom he supposedly didn't want to play for at all. Then Boras straight out lied and said the deals weren't comparable and the Astros bid was too late, though Drayton McLane vehemently contradicted that. And yes, it was worse. All Dusty had to do was switch closers. The Astros had a full blown personnel crisis. And I don't know why this is so hard for some people to grasp, but all that needed to happen was for Baker to pull LaTroy from the closer's role when it was clear he couldn't do it. He never could, and never should have been given the opportunity. If you are trying to drive in a nail with a screwdriver, at what point to you stop blaming the screwdriver and start blaming it's wielder? It's not like LaTroy was great closer with an awesome track record who inexplicably choked in the biggest games. He was always bad as a closer, and NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN USED. When are people going to start pointing the finger at the right person(s)?