Jose Altuve joins Astros at White House, Carlos Correa and two teammates skip event

March 12 (UPI) -- The Houston Astros visited the White House on Monday to celebrate their 2017 World Series title.

All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa, Carlos Beltran and relief pitcher Ken Giles did not attend the ceremony, which was held in the East Room.

"Welcome to the White House, the 2017 World Series champion...the Houston Astros," President Donald Trump said in his opening remarks. "And what a team because I watched our Yankees and the Yankees were good and they were tough. They were about as tough as anybody. But you guys were just a little bit tougher."

2017 American League MVP Jose Altuve and World Series MVP George Springer joined the team at the event and reached received personal praise from Trump.

Trump called Game 7 of the World Series one of the most "tremendous baseball games anybody has ever seen."

The Astros led the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Game 6, but the Los Angeles Dodgers tied the series with a 3-1 victory on Halloween.

Houston put up five early runs in Game 7 and held the Dodgers to one run to win the series.

Trump also called the group champions for how they dealt with Hurricane Harvey, before referring to the pitching of Justin Verlander as "lights out."

"I know Justin. Justin is a friend of mine," Trump said. "Justin and I play golf. I'm a pretty long hitter. This guy is a monster. He said he's a two or a three handicap, but believe me, he's much better than that. He's a +2 or a +3. But we love playing and it was really great. What he wants to do is get back to pitching and I think he's going to have a fantastic year."

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said that the team was "honored" to be at the White House.