DRONING ON ABOUT CHEATING
Barry Laminack: Nothing like a good Twitter spat. Thanks, 'Tyler' Bauer
May 3, 2018, 6:49 am
Oh I do love a good Twitter spat.
And that's exactly what fans were tweeted too earlier this week when Trevor Bauer came out and in so many words accused the Astros of cheating.
It all started with this tweet from @Blaze4551:
"Are Astros doctoring baseball or throwing spit balls. look at spin rates of verlander, cole and morton, inreased dramatically pitching in Astros uniform. they probably using a substance or like chewing gum like morton did like post season"
And this reply to the above tweet from @drivelinebases:
"Chewing gum? Also spit balls would reduce spin theoretically. Anyway, what a weird coincidence you have discovered. 
To which Bauer replied with a bunch of "hmmmm" emojis, followed by the following statement:
"If only there was just a really quick way to increase spin rate. Like what if you could trade for a player knowing that you could bump his spin rate a couple hundred rpm overnight...imagine the steals you could get on the trade market! If only that existed…"
It didnt take long for Lance McCullers Jr. to respond with a tweet of his own, directed at Bauer:
"Jealousy isn't a good look on you my man. You have great stuff and have worked hard for it, like the rest of us, no need for this. I will ask though because my spin rate and spin axis on my 4 seem is a$$."
Bauer replied to McCullers tweet by back peddling a bit:
"I never said Astros are cheating. My only claim is that using sticky stuff on your hand increases the rpm on fastballs. Which is blatantly true."
And then out of nowhere, here comes Alex Bregman kicking the ant pile:
"Relax Tyler ... those World Series balls spin a little different.... 
Uhhh, Alex...
At this point it kind of fell apart, but not before Bauer changed his twitter name to Trevor "Tyler" Bauer.
Well played, sir.
Later on, Bauer came out with a lengthy statement, where, in so many words, he stated that he'd be fine if baseball let pitchers use pine tar, he just wants them to be consistent.
"So, pick a substance that's sticky, that gives you all the performance benefits and just put it on the back of the mound. That way if you want to use it you can. And everybody knows it's being used. And if you want to use other substances and skirt the rule, whatever. Have a certain amount of outlawed substances, vaseline or whatever. But if you want to use sticky stuff, it's right there on the mound. Put your fingers on it and throw."
At some point in all of this twitter nonsense, some idiot even used a picture of Josh Reddick and his glove, implying that HE was cheating.
Only that's stupid because Reddick doesn't pitch, as one fan pointed out by suggesting that the pine tar on his Reddicks glove is why he has a "... 0.00 era". HA!
And don't worry, Reddick saw the tweet and replied with this gem of his own:
https://twitter.com/RealJoshReddick/status/991378695096094721
God I love Twitter.
What this all boils down to is Bauer throwing shade on former UCLA teammate Gerrit Cole. Apparently they didn't get along in college and still don't to this day.
I'm really looking forward to May 18. That's when Bauer will take the hill for the Indians in Minute Maid Park. Too bad it will be Verlander's turn in the rotation, and not Cole's.
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