Game of inches: Does Albies really have Altuve beat, or is he telling a tall tale?
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You can throw out the statistics when Ozzie Albies and Jose Altuve meet at second base.
They say Braves second baseman Albies is 5-foot-7 and Altuve, his Astros counterpart, is 5-foot-6.
But as they stood next to each other on Friday night in Atlanta, any negligible advantage was too narrow to the naked eye. So Albies got a second opinion, mouthing the words, "Who's taller?" to someone off-screen -- perhaps Braves first baseman Matt Olson or second-base umpire Tony Randazzo.
It was followed by a smile from Albies, elated that he'd won a height contest for perhaps the first time.
What we know about Albies and Altuve is that they both play big, each owning multiple Silver Slugger Awards. On the field, though, success can be defined in different ways.
On Friday, Albies stood tall in the battle for pride. But Altuve and the Astros took a measure -- see what we did there? -- of revenge, winning, 11-3, to hang on to a tie for first place in the American League West.