This Astros Fan Is Now Big Part of Playoffs, Accidentally

The Houston Astros fan now rooting hardest for his team to make the World Series? It's got to be Troy Caldwell, thanks to a controversial moment from Wednesday night's game against the Red Sox. The upshot is that Caldwell may have cost his team a two-run home run in an American League finals game the Astros ended up losing by, yes, two runs. It happened in the first inning, when Caldwell tried to catch a ball coming down near his seat in the right-field stands, explains USA Today. The problem is Boston outfielder Mookie Betts also was trying to catch it. Neither did, but the ump ruled that Caldwell interfered with Betts and called batter Jose Altuve out. Watch it for yourself here.

• What Caldwell says: "I promise you I didn't do anything wrong," he says, per the Houston Chronicle. "I didn't reach over the wall. ... I know the rules, and I didn't reach over the line." Also: "I'm going to need security to escort me out of here if the Astros don't come back to win this."
• What the ump says: "Here's the whole play," says Joe West. "They hit the ball to right field, he (Betts) jumped up to try to make a catch, a fan interfered with him over the playing field. That is why I called spectator interference."
• What the scoreboard says: The final score was 8-6, giving Boston a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Will Caldwell become the modern Steve Bartman? (More Houston Astros stories.)