NEW YORK -- Armed with preliminary results that prove some balls are "juiced," Major League Baseball officials are meeting Tuesday with their researchers, according to a report in USA Today. The scientists who have been studying the 2000 ball to see if it caused a dramatic increase in home runs will attend the meeting and present their findings. They are expected to say balls remain within the range of specifications outlined in the baseball rule book, but "some balls are livelier at one end of the spectrum than the other," said Sandy Alderson, executive vice president for baseball operations. Alderson's main concern is that the balls are distributed evenly -- that a lot of lively balls don't go to one location. Commissioner Bud Selig will be in New York on Tuesday and might look in. Also attending will be Jim Sherwood, the engineering professor who runs the Baseball Research Center at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell campus. There were 931 homers hit in April, a record for the month and a 15 percent increase from the same month last year. On May 22, along with a record six grand slams, 56 homers were hit, just one off the record for one day. Through Sunday, 2,567 homers had been hit in 1,003 games, an average of 2.55. Baseball officials toured the Rawlings factory in Costa Rica in May. "I'm now confident there is no difference in the balls being made here now and those being made here at the start of last season," Alderson said. "I'm not a physicist, but I think you could look at each component of how the ball is made and realize there could be ways to make slight changes." No wonder Carl Everett has 20 something homers this year so far. I bet all the juiced balls are in BOSTON! ------------------ President of the Moochie Norris FAN CLUB
What about the pitching sucks and new ballparks have just been added that are more, shall I say, hitter friendly. Why hit trillions of home runs when we can hit............................billions ? Zipit. Look it's Zippy Longstocking. www.shhh.com.org rrriiiiiggggghhhhhhttttttt Dr. Evil I mean, Surf ------------------
I hope the scientists don't come up with another "Happy Hatian" theory. And its not just that the ball is juiced, it got no laces. That combined with the poor pitching and ballparks that turn broken bat singles into three-run homers means that even pitchers are home run threats. Its not a prety sight. ------------------ Its only my opinion. Feel free to disagree.
