Only question now is how to catch then in the act

Don't forget about spin on the ball. I'm not saying they don't mess with the balls on prime time games, but spin has a huge impact on ball flight. Generally, the less spin, the farther it goes, but too little spin and it loses stability and doesn't travel as far either.

Anyone who follows golf knows what I'm talking about with angle of attack, spin, etc…

One of the nice things about Texags is the setting to not load pictures automatically.

What were the weather conditions? Wind blowing in vs out, humidity, barometric pressure. All have an effect in travel distance, especially since Yordan hit his very high. Not saying it isn't a plausible explanation, just that you can't deduce that when there are other variables that differ between the situations.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Only question now is how to catch then in the act

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You'd think there's enough available info out there that some journalist would run with it and start a deep dive into the issue.

Hell...Back when our sign stealing mess was going down everyone all of a sudden became an investigative journalist.

Mathguy64 said:

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I've said it before. If they are manipulating the ball at the team or site level someone should go to jail. It's the equivalent of game fixing.

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I'd say the most damning evidence is the Lewis HR versus the Yordan fly out in the same game. You mean to tell me a ball hit with a one degree lower launch angle with pretty much equal exit velocity off a pitch that was only 4 mph faster, can travel almost 70 feet more??

Astros lineup. Tucker out again pic.twitter.com/Ks8Ou9BlDb

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) May 30, 2022

Framber alert

Dusty Baker said an MRI revealed inflammation in Kyle Tucker’s left foot but no structural damage. Tucker is still day-to-day and the Astros do not know when he will play again.

— Danielle Lerner (@danielle_lerner) May 30, 2022

No outfielders on the 40 man we're can call up. I'd rather play a man down than ever hear Niko's name again.

Jake isn't too far off.

Heard click say yesterday that he's about to go out a rehab assignment at an affiliate in the next few days.

Siri's are numbered I assume?

Corey Julks has nine home runs in his last 16 games. No, that is not a typo. #JulksSmash pic.twitter.com/BDssg280ey

— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) May 30, 2022

Julks is a hot bat down there right now. Leon still strikes out way too much. Julks can also play all 3 outfield positions

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=julks-000cor

Josh James currently has a 7.02 ERA in 17 outings… speaking of trash pitchers

Blackburn has been great for the A's.

today has the makings of a sleepy 2-1 game

Please, not again

So what you are saying is "it's going to be a normal Monday for the Astros."

W said:

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Blackburn has been great for the A's.

today has the makings of a sleepy 2-1 game

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He has a career ERA vs Houston north of 13 in 4 games. Astros slash .400/.437/.708/1.144 vs him over his career.

The question is which version of Astros hitters show up today

Zack Greinke was lined up to pitch against the Astros this weekend in Kansas City. It is not to be. https://t.co/NWMUXpK6Hm

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 30, 2022

Grienke with the same thing Lance has

bearkatag15 said:

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Siri's are numbered I assume?

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I think chas might be the odd man out. He still has options so they can send him down and not dfa him, but it's more likely he gets traded if Meyers returns to form.

I've been looking at team stats the last hour trying to see why our offense is so flaccid. Obviously our BA is bad (currently rank #24) but our SLG is good (we are 12th and that's dropped the last week). But here is maybe the explanation. Our BABIP is dead ass last while our hard hit% is 5th.

Normally by now luck and randomness will have evened out. 50 games in is long enough to equalize noise. But I wonder how long this combo can keep it up. Lots of hard hit balls for outs is a strange long term combo. Some of it is defenses in pull shifts for Yordan, Tucker and Bregman and them hitting into it. Bregman by the way leads the majors in pull %.

ETA more on BABIP. The league is at .287 and we have 3 starters in the bottom 28 overall. Yordan, Yuli and Bregman. All at .246 or lower.

Nice https://t.co/v6KA866Cnc

— Danielle Lerner (@danielle_lerner) May 30, 2022

The A's are 8-1 when Paul Blackburn starts
The A's are 12-29 when anybody else starts

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 30, 2022

Mathguy64 said:

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Laureano doesn't look quite so buff. Maybe he's laying off the chicken and rice.

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Nah, just the steroids

Blackburn has his offspeed stuff working -- not good

Machete K's -- not helpful

good grief, terrible AB from Altuve

Yup, needed a productive out and we can't get that. Now, Altuve Ks too.

Like past years, this offense can absolutely fall off a cliff at times.

Ready for the hot streak!