Photo: Cody Bahn, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

The trying times for the Astros on the field in 2020 will extend to the broadcast booth, where both radio and television announcers will be judged as much for what they don’t say as for what they say.



That was evident during the first AT&T SportsNet Southwest telecast this week for Todd Kalas and Geoff Blum, during which they referred several times to “it” without specifying that “it” was the sign-stealing scandal that resulted in the dismissal of the manager and general manager and an unending coast-to-coast barrage of vitriol toward the locals.



That approach drew a skeptical responses from Twitter, the well-known forum for rational discussion, and Blum responded.



“We will address when necessary,” Blum wrote. “Astros fans have been bombarded all off season. We are a regional network, not a national broadcast. So, yes, our agenda may be different. My podcast does address it extensively.”



The podcast in question is Bleacher Blums, which Blum co-hosts with former minor league ballplayer and Left Coast neighbor David Tuttle.



And, indeed, Blum does address the issue in a recently posted episode.



“You have to recognize what is in front of you, and what I am going to say may not make a lot of people in Houston happy, and it may make people on the Left Coast happy,” Blum said.



“But from the information I have and what I have seen … the Astros cheated. They took it too far.”



Blum also discounted the notion that the Astros were cowed into complying with the cheating scheme by teammate Carlos Beltran, adding, “It’s up to the person to say, ‘I don’t want to be part of it.’”



In addition, he said the Astros erred by announcing ahead of time that they would apologize during what turned out to be a poorly planned news conference arranged by their outside crisis communications consultant.



At the same time, though, Blum said during the podcast that the Astros players were in a no-win situation in this Age of Outrage.



“They could have come out with their shirts off and said ‘We did everything wrong, we’re responsible, here’s the trophy, here’s the rings, here’s our (playoff) shares,’ and everybody would have been, ‘That’s not enough.’ They weren’t going to please everybody.”

That’s going to be the case for the broadcasters, too, I suspect, if some of this week’s scattered comments are any indication.



Carl Patterson, the network’s coordinating producer for baseball, may have expressed the network’s marching orders when he wrote on Twitter, “29 other telecasts will give you exactly what you want. The Astros telecast is for Astros fans. Period.”



Blum, however, isn’t likely to completely gloss over unpleasantness if it occurs to a degree that fans will notice.



One brief example came Thursday during an Astros-Nationals telecast when Kalas noted that fans were chanting “”Yu-li” for Yuli Gurriel and Blum replied, “Among other things.”



Kalas said later, to the backdrop of audible boos for George Springer, “That is going to be part of the landscape for the Astros in 2020. They are going to hear it from visiting crowds throughout the year.”



“It’s going to be tough,” Blum replied. “Usually when you come into a ballpark and you get booed, it’s a sign of respect. But that has changed considerably, considering what happened during the off season with the Astros.”



I suspect, absent unforeseen circumstances, that sort of exchange will be a regular feature during road game telecasts, with observations on current circumstances rather than reflections on past misdeeds.



After all, while nobody benefits from a Pollyanna approach to reality, it’s not likely that fans will tune in to Astros games on AT&T SportsNet Southwest to hear the same sort of rhetorical drubbing that is been standard fare the last few weeks on MLB Network Radio, as an example.



Blum won’t be back in the booth with Kalas until the regular season opener as AT&T takes a break from game telecasts until the latter part of spring training.



“I’m going to the rodeo,” he said in a text message.



Once the rodeo winds down and the regular session begins, the success of Astros telecasts will come down to good judgment on the part of all parties to accurately describe of what could be a trying year without ignoring events or magnifying them.

Uncertain TV future for Eisen show



Forgive me for harping on a well-established point, but aside from Astros and Rockets games, Houston viewers get virtually nothing for the $5 or $6 they chip in each month for AT&T SportsNet Southwest, and now they’re about to get even less.



With the end of DirecTV’s Audience Channel, AT&T will no longer have access to the Dan Patrick and Rich Eisen radio show simulcasts that have made up a significant portion of the telecast day for AT&T SportsNet Southwest.



Patrick announced this week that his show will be available on his YouTube channel; Eisen, after an emotional farewell segment this week, said he hopes to have a television home for his show, which airs on Fox Sports Radio, at some point.



For now, though, that’s six or so fewer hours of content, be it live or on replay, each weekday on AT&T SportsNet Southwest, and likely more infomercials and game re-airs and syndicated minor sports repackages involving motorized beach volleyball on skates or whatever.



It’s another example of how viewers aren’t getting their money’s worth from AT&T and other regional sports networks, which is one reason that the industry is facing trying times at the moment.

New Kondelis film examines Texas case



We last spoke with Austin filmmaker Pat Kondelis a couple of years ago concerning his film “Disgraced” about the Patrick Dennehy-Carlton Dotson basketball scandal at Baylor University. Kondelis’ most recent documentary also has a Texas background and sports elements amid a controversial crime story.



Kondelis’ new film is titled “Outcry,” a five-part series that will debut March 14 at South by Southwest in Austin and will premiere April 3 on Showtime. It concerns the 2013 conviction of Leander High School football player Greg Kelley on charges he sexually assaulted a 4-year-old boy.



Kelley was sentenced to 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole, but questions quickly arose about the validity of the investigation by Williamson County authorities.

SPOILER ALERT: Kelley was released from prison as the case was re-opened, and he last year received a verdict of actual innocence from a Williamson County district judge.