So I have been a little busy and a little lazy but I'm so thankful that I have a great hubbie who wanted to blog this week. For all those people who don't like sports or know that it is the All Star Break. The first night is the Home Run Derby. The second night is the All Star game. By the way, all my additional commentary will be in ( ).
So here's the hubs version/recap of the Home Run Derby.
The MLB All-Star game is happening right now in New York. (It rotates every year.) The New York Mets are hosting the all-star game at Citi Field this season. I will get to a preview of the all-star game in a little bit, but right now I want to talk about the home run derby. The home run derby is the best competition in sports. It is better than the dunk contest in the NBA, skills shoot out in the NHL and whatever the NFL does. I might be a little biased, but I get excited about the derby. (He is extremely biases, but right though.)
This year the participants are Prince Fielder from the Detroit Tigers, he won the 2012 home run derby in Kansas City. This year he didn’t do so hot. He hit 5 home runs and was eliminated in the first round. I am writing this while watching the derby and thus far Fielder did hit the longest home run at 483 ft. This was Jessa’s pick to win the derby. (Super sad he sucked it up this year, but he just wanted to make sure someone else won.)
Michael Cuddyer of the Colorado Rockies. This is his first home run derby and he has been in the league for 11 years. He was the surprise of the first round. He hit 7 home runs and that was just enough to get him to the 2nd round. He ended up hitting 15 total home runs which was good for him to finish 3rd in the derby.
Pedro Alverez of the Pittsburgh Pirates took the place of Carlos Gomez who got hurt before the break. He did alright for his 1sthome run derby. He hit 6 homers and was eliminated in the 1stround.
Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles is in his first home run derby as well. Davis is the MLB home run leader going into the break. He has 37 homers and that is tied for 2nd all time. Only Barry Bonds (ASU ball player) had more with 39. He tied Mark McGuire and Reggie Jackson (ASU ball player) with 37. Pretty good company. He hit 8 home runs in the first and tied for 2nd in the round. Good enough to get him to the next round. He would only hit 4 dingers in the second round and his night would be over with. I know this because Cuddyer hit more for a total.
It is fitting that New York City is the place for the all-star game this year. It’s a city so nice they named it twice! (Cheesy much.) They also have 2 MLB teams. The New York Mets and Yankees. Both the Mets and Yankees had the captains “C” on their jersey for the derby.
Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees went last for the American League hitters. (Did you know he was named after Jackie Robinson. Also the movie 42 comes out tomorrow.) He was the 2011 home run derby here in beautiful Arizona! He also tried to hit homers last year in Kansas City, but he didn’t hit any. This year was better, but not good enough to get out of the first. He hit 4 and was eliminated.
David Wright of the New York Mets and captain at the derby for the NL hit last in the first round. He finished 2nd in 2006 to Ryan Howard. This year he hit 5 homers and was eliminated in the first round. It was sweet to hear the Mets fans go crazy when he came up to hit and when he hit one out.
And now the final two…literally this is the finals.
Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals. This kid in 20 years old. You read that right, 20 years old. He is the LeBron James of baseball. He was drafted #1 in 2011, played in the all-star game last year, won rookie of the year and is now in his first home run derby. He is also the guy that I want to win the derby this year. In the 1stround he hit 8 home runs, 2nd round he hit another 8 homers and that was just enough to get into the finals. In the finals he hit another 8. He was also hit by a pitch. It is funny because his Dad was pitching to him throughout the derby. (Seriously what was up with his hair. Did you see his bro's mustache?)
The next guy is Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics. This is his 1st home run derby and it is the only thing he is doing at the all-star game. He wasn’t voted into the game tomorrow. In the 1st round he hit 17 home runs. That was good for the lead. The homers that he hit were moon shots. They went far…like in the 2nd and 3rd level. He didn’t have to hit in the 2nd round because his 17 homers were good enough to advance into the final, but he did. He only needed 5 homers for the American League to beat the National League in total homers. He did that and then hit a couple more just for show. In the show he hit the chevy truck. Now someone at the ballpark is going to win that truck because he hit it! In the last round it was all Cespedes. He hit 9 homers to win the derby and only needed 5 of his 10 outs to do it.
That concludes this post about the home run derby! Congratulations to Yoenis Cespedes on the derby win and I can’t wait until the derby next year in Minnesota!
