Jose Altuve, Astros ‘not telling the truth,’ says body-language expert: ‘The whole thing is scripted bull’ - NJ.com

The Houston Astros finally made their players available to talk publicly about their sign-stealing scandal on Thursday before a spring training workout in West Palm Beach, Fla., and the public reaction to the news conference and clubhouse comments was universal trashing.

A lot of Astros players said they were sorry for the cheating, which occurred during their 2017 World Series championship season as well as 2018, according to an MLB investigation.

There also were denials that Astros hitters had buzzers inside their game jerseys in 2019 even though Jose Altuve pleaded with teammates not to rip his jersey off after his pennant-winning homer off Yankees pitcher Aroldis Chapman last October.

Did this weak attempt to address everything simply prove the Astros are liars as well as cheaters?

NJ Advance Media reached out to one of the nation’s top body-language experts to find out, and Traci Brown had some strong opinions after studying the evidence.

“The whole thing is scripted bull,” said Brown, a Boulder, Colo., resident and former national champion cyclist who authored How to Detect Lies, Fraud and Identity Theft.

Brown, who has worked with police, FBI and Army Green Beret, studied four Astros videos, three from Thursday’s press conference and clubhouse interviews. She also took notes from Altuve’s field interview with FOX after his ALCS-winning homer last year.

She wasn’t buying anything the Astros were saying.

“I do think they’re lying about the buzzers,” Brown said.

Here are her findings:

ALTUVE ALCS POST-GAME INTERVIEW

Altuve quote: “(I didn’t want my jersey ripped because) I’m too shy. The last time I did that I got in trouble with my wife.”

Brown’s thoughts: “He doesn’t have any trouble hearing any of the reporter’s questions except the one about the shirt. That’s a tell-tale of deception. And he answers that question differently looking down as he answers. He’s not telling the truth here about why he didn’t want his shirt ripped. And he smiles and laughs about this potentially very incriminating question. That’s called duper’s delight. He thinks he’s getting away with it.”

* * *

ALTUVE DENYING BUZZER USE THURSDAY

Altuve quote: “Nobody on this team had a buzzer. I don’t know what else to say about that. MLB did their investigation and they didn’t find anything. They found what they found in 2017. They did a really good investigation on the buzzer and they didn’t find anything, so when you said you don’t believe that I didn’t have a buzzer, you don’t believe what MLB investigated."

Brown’s thoughts: “The first thing he says is that nobody was busted. That’s the same excuse we heard from Lance Armstrong. Word for word. And he’s shrugging his shoulders a lot. That’s showing uncertainty about what he’s saying. And he’s rolling his lips in over his teeth, which says he’s holding back info. And all this is in the first few seconds. He’s leaning on the findings of the investigation, not saying what he actually did or didn’t do.”

* * *

CORREA DENYING BUZZER USE THURSDAY

Correa quote: “If I’m lying here, I would lose credibility if something comes out, and that’s not what I want to do. You guys know me. I want to speak the truth every time I’m talking to you.”

Brown’s thoughts: “He nods his head yes a bit as he says nothing in 2019 and he also backs away from the question when asked. He’s trying to get away from the question and angles himself away from the reporter. That doesn’t necessarily indicate deception, but I think when you add it up with some other little clues in there, I think there’s a pretty good chance of it. And when people say, ‘You know me’ or ‘anyone that knows me, that’s another telltale of deception. Between that and backing away from the question, I’d say he’s lying about it.”

ASTROS NEWS CONFERENCE

Alex Bregman quote: “I am really sorry about the choices that were made by my team, by the organization and by me. I have learned from this and I hope to regain the trust of baseball fans. I would also like to thank the Astros fans for all of their support. We as a team are totally focused on moving forward to the 2020 season. Thank you.”

Altuve quote: “I also will be brief. We had a great team meeting last night, and I want to say that the Astros organization and the team feels bad about what happened in 2017. We especially feel remorse for the impact on our fans and the game of baseball. Our team is determined to move forward, to play with intensity and to bring back a championship to Houston in 2020. Thank you.”

Brown’s thoughts: “Here’s the thing: There’s no emotion about that whole thing. They said we are sorry about this, but they weren’t sincere at all. And I’ll tell you what, they’re not sorry. They won. A couple of guys were fired. Who cares? They won."

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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