Once something is written in the Talking Head's Handbook of Conventional Wisdom, it is there to stay.
The Metrodome had the same issue. It opened with home runs flying right and left, but once pitchers adjusted, it was a middle-of-the-pack ballpark in terms of home runs. Yet, until the day it died, no talking head could mention it without using the term "bandbox" and lamenting how unfair it was to pitchers.
Agreed. And it sometimes comes with an implication that if only "fill in the blank former player turned commentator" were still playing, he'd hit 30+ home runs there every year. It minimizes Astros hitters' accomplishments. Even on
ESPN's Astros Page today, they have a blurb about McCann's home run:
"ESPN Stats and Information
It's fitting that Brian McCann's first home run as an Astro would have been an out at almost every other ballpark besides his new home field. "
First off, why is it "fitting"? But ignoring that, it's one thing to say a ball would only be a home run at Minute Maid, but entirely another to declare that not only would it not be a home run elsewhere, but it "would have been an out" at almost every other park.
The narrative is there. Even in a 2-1 game.