Alex Bregman appears to be suffering from a case of poster’s remorse. The Houston Astros third baseman made headlines Monday by trolling Boston Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi in an Instagram post. Bregman later deleted the post, but not before he added some extra spice to an already-interesting American League Championship Series. But why did the typically brash Bregman backtrack and remove the post? The Astros must have ordered him to do so, right? Wrong. In fact, Bregman made that call himself. “As people noticed and talked about the video Monday, Bregman took it down,” NBC Sports Boston’s Evan Drellich wrote Monday night. “That was Bregman?s choice, not a directive from the Astros, sources said.” “He was kind of embarrassed,? one person told Drellich. If you ask us, Bregman has nothing to be embarrassed about. Furthermore, Major League Baseball could use more of this playful trolling and trash talk, especially on social media.<doc-sep>If there was a memo to be diplomatic in response to Alex Bregman’s Instagram jab, Steve Pearce didn’t get it. The Red Sox first baseman had strong words for Bregman after the Houston Astros third baseman posted several Instagram videos trolling Boston’s American League Championship Series Game 3 starter, Nathan Eovaldi. “Wow. I don?t know why he would do that,” Pearce told WEEI’s Rob Bradford on Monday. “We do our talking on the field. If he wants to run his mouth now we?ll see who is talking at the end of the series. “I don?t think he needs to run his mouth. He?s one of the best players in the game. If that?s his personality, that?s his personality. Nothing against the guy. If that?s how he has to motivate himself, whatever.” Bregman eventually deleted the videos, which appeared on his Instagram story and showed Jose Altuve, Bregman and George Springer hitting three consecutive home runs off Eovaldi during a June 20 game while the pitcher was on the Tampa Bay Rays. Pearce was the only Red Sox player to fire back at Bregman over his troll job; Eovaldi said he was aware of the videos but downplayed them, while Red Sox backup catcher Blake Swihart, who grew up with Bregman, tried to see things from the young Astro’s perspective. “To me, in his mind, he?s probably thinking he?s trying to pump up his team, get everyone excited,” Swihart told Bradford. “It might have come off the wrong way. I know he deleted it now. I think he was just trying to pump everybody up, that?s all.”<doc-sep>Social media trash talk isn’t just the domain of the NBA anymore. Social media trash talk isn’t just the domain of the NBA anymore. The day before facing Nathan Eovaldi in Game 3 of the ALCS, Astros third baseman Alex Bregman posted a video on his Instagram story of a game from late June when Eovaldi, then pitching for the Rays, allowed back-to-back-to-back homers to George Springer, Bregman and Jose Altuve. Eovaldi pitched well in Game 3 (even though Bregman did an RBI double off of him), pacing the Red Sox to a win. In Game 5, with the Red Sox on the verge of clinching a World Series berth, Eovaldi was called on to shut down Astros again in relief and humiliated Bregman with a 102-mph fastball up and away. Game 5 starter David Price was pumped up and had a message for Bregman. After the game, the Red Sox team Twitter account mimicked Bregman’s Instagram caption when it posted a video of the champagne celebration in the clubhouse. Let’s be honest, this is a lot more fun than throwing a fastball at a guy because of the “unwritten rules.”<doc-sep>Photo : Tim Bradbury ( Getty Images ) Astros third baseman Alex Bregman hasn’t recorded a hit in the ALCS, although he almost spoiled Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel’s Game 2 save and does have six walks, which gives him a perverted .000/.700/.000 slashline for the series. Maybe the video Bregman posted Monday on Instagram served two purposes: to annoy the Red Sox and to motivate him to get a knock. Advertisement Bregman’s “lil pregame video work” is a clip of former Rays starter Nathan Eovaldi—who was traded to the Red Sox and will start Game 3—serving up three consecutive gargantuan dongs to George Springer, Bregman, and Jose Altuve during the Astros’ 5-1 win on June 20. Here’s the high-quality version. (This is beside the point, but did Bregman borrow someone else’s phone to take this video of a phone? Does he have two phones? Is Alex Bregman popular enough to justify having two phones? Does anyone really need two phones?) By Monday night, the video had vanished from Bregman’s Instagram story, although it would’ve only been there for a maximum of 24 hours anyway. If it bothered Eovaldi, he didn’t show it: “No, you know I don’t have any social media or anything like that,” Eovaldi said. “The guys have told me about it. I think home run clips, right? Something like that. Yeah, I’m aware of it.” Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was the Astros’ bench coach in 2017, didn’t seem to care, either: “If you need motivation in Game 3 of the ALCS, you better check yourself, because you win three more games you go to the show,” Cora said. “And that’s what should motivate you. Alex has different ways of motivating himself. And whatever. I’ll leave it at that.” Advertisement Astros manager A.J. Hinch also wasn’t fazed by Bregman’s jab. As long as it didn’t cross a line, he didn’t mind “fun banter.” Advertisement Those philosophies seem fair. It’s harmless trash talk that doesn’t get too personal, and Bregman’s done a fine job of acting like a heel without being a total prick. Then again, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge blared “New York, New York” from a speaker after his team won Game 2 of the ALDS against the Red Sox and the series moved back to the Bronx, and that turned out poorly for him. Even if the Red Sox claimed they didn’t care about that, they still trounced the Yanks, 16-1, in Game 3 and closed out the series with a Game 4 win in New York. Astros starter Dallas Keuchel had better not leave anything over the plate tonight.<doc-sep>
HOUSTON -- If Alex Bregman was trying to get a rise out of the Boston Red Sox, it didn't work. On Monday, the Houston third baseman posted a video to his Instagram account that showed the Astros hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs at Minute Maid Park against Nathan Eovaldi, with the text caption, "lil pregame video work." Bregman hit the second of the three homers against Eovaldi, who was pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays at the time. Eovaldi was traded to Boston in July and is slated to start Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in Houston on Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, Eovaldi said he hadn't actually seen the video, but that he was aware of it and was trying to stay focused on the task at hand. "I still have a job to do," he said. "I've got to go out there and pitch my game tomorrow and I can't have any distractions." Like Eovaldi, Red Sox manager Alex Cora claimed he hadn't seen Bregman's post. Cora added that, with the best-of-seven series tied at one, he doesn't think his players need any extra incentive. "If you need motivation in Game 3 of the ALCS, you better check yourself," said the first-year skipper. "Because you win three more games, you go to the show. And that's what should motivate you. Alex has different ways of motivating himself and whatever. I'll leave it at that." Bregman's post is merely the latest episode of off-field antics that Cora and the Red Sox have endured. Following Boston's Game 2 AL Division Series loss to the Yankees, slugger Aaron Judge walked by the Red Sox clubhouse on his way out of Fenway Park, blaring the classic song "New York, New York." Upon returning to the Bronx, the Red Sox routed the Yankees 16-1 in Game 3, then eliminated them a day later with a 4-3 win. A week later, Cora has no hard feelings about Judge's gesture, or the more recent one from Bregman. "I don't take it personal," he said. "I don't play anymore. Probably when I was playing I would be like, here we go, like whatever. But I don't throw a ball. I don't have to hit. I don't make errors anymore. I just manage a team. And I don't get caught up on that. But it's always good that people talk about the game. And if that's the reason they're talking about it, so be it. But from my end, I don't pay attention to that." As of Monday evening, Bregman's Instagram account no longer contained a post with video from Eovaldi's June start in Houston.