Jose Altuve forgot how to play baseball at the worst possible time (Video)

Jose Altuve committed another laughably bad error in Game 2 against the Rays.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

It wasn’t that long ago that the 5-foot-6 Jose Altuve was beloved among baseball fans as the miniature-sized hero of the MLB champion Houston Astros.

One infamous cheating scandal later, every baseball fan outside of Houston is clinging to his every mistake.

Case in point: The 2020 ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays, during which Altuve has committed three horrendous errors through the first three games of the series. His third was the most egregious as the bunch, as it appears as though the second baseman just completely forgot how to play baseball at the worst possible moment in Game 3 on Tuesday night:

Jose Altuve has a clear case of the yips.

Apparently the aliens from Moron Mountain are going to be facing the Looney Tunes in a baseball game sometime soon, because Altuve’s completely botched throw looks like someone who had his talent magically zapped right out of his body.

Seriously, this is a simple throw that I could make. (Okay, maybe that’s taking it a bit far, but this is a simple out at second for a baseball player at most levels, and especially for one in the majors.)

Committing his third error since Monday, Altuve’s mistakes have accounted for five Tampa Bay runs. The Rays immediately took a 2-1 lead after that error and kept adding onto it, building a 5-1 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth.

According to USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale, Astros manager Dusty Baker was concerned about Altuve having a case of the yips heading into Game 3. It appears his fears were not misplaced, and this costly error may have cost Houston the game and maybe even the series.