Yep... in other news, I saw the balls for the Toronto series laying out on the beach in Galveston. Should be nice and toasty for Monday! In all seriousness though, I hope Hinch pretty much sticks with the Marisnick-free lineup... rotating between Gattis/Kemp and McCann/Stassi, with Marwin stuck in LF.
Marisnick seems to be on borrowed time until September. If they truly think Tucker will be on playoff roster, they shouldn't wait much longer to give him some time to adapt. That said, Astros may not like having 3 of 4 OFs as LHBs.
You call out posters (and rightfully so) when they take stats from one game or a small sample size and draw conclusions. I hope talk about the players not seeing the ball as well at home is done as of today but we have a season and half of data showing the Astros hit much better on the road. So...blow up the batters eye and rebuild it bigger...j/k, I think.
They were speculating the other day that it might be caused by the batters eye being a weird color with weird shadows.
If it’s truly a ballpark/batters eye issue, you’d think it would be prominent enough in almost every game, as long as the same setup exists, for all teams that play here. The fact that it’s seemingly sporadic from game to game, or even inning to inning, has the suggestion that other factors are likely contributing as well. There’s no doubt that they hit better on the road. My premise is that it’s unlikely to be simply the batters eye as the sole reason.
It is a better theory than randomness explains why MMP has been an extreme pitcher's park for 1.5 to 2.5 years after nearly a decade of being a neutral field. One high scoring game refutes a multiyear trend just like one cold winter refutes global warming.
Having a pitching staff near the top in strikeouts during that span could also be a factor... as is the overall uptick in K's and decrease in BA in baseball in general.
Has anyone heard the players complaining? Folks can speculate all they want, but if it was really bad, you'd think the players would have at least spoken up in the off season and management would have fixed it.
I’m not understanding the whole batter’s eye concept. Wouldn’t it be the same for both sides, in fact more of an advantage for the better pitching staff and the home team who has become accustomed to it?
I think it was possibly a thing at the beginning of last season. Then they modified it. Then that either helped, or the players simply got accustomed to it... and their home offensive numbers got better as the season went on. Doesn't make much sense for this year... at the very least, they should be used to it. People forget how young a team this still is... despite now having a lineup with perennial all-stars, a batting champion, an MVP, a WS MVP, and a whole bunch of guys who broke through last year on the biggest stage when the lights were brightest. IOW... a whole lot of things can get in these guys heads to play a role in disparities such as this.
