The Home Run Derby

The Home run: I have a love-hate relationship with it. As many of you know, I've even said "I'm over the home run" because they feel cheap and common these days.

I was reminded last night just how special the homer can be. The derby pre-show featured a montage of the greatest home runs of all-time--the game-winners, the walk-offs, the clutch blasts--and it was chilling, in a good way. I realized just how special and beautiful the home run can be when it matters. That it's not about how far you hit it, but just that you did.

The home run is so decisive, so unanswerable, the biggest thing a hitter can do at the plate.

The Home Run Derby
I was glad to see an underappreciated hitter like Bobby Abreu, an old-school 30/30 .300 type of guy get some press. 24 HR (in 1 rd, 41 total) is definitely impressive, even if I'm not convinced it's anything like real home runs. An 85 mph changeup right in your wheelhouse, pitch after pitch. But Abreu is a classy guy, and I was glad to see the festivities all about him. Glad to see a little pub for the National League hitters, since it's usually all about AL sluggers.



Some Funny Notes
Found a new baseball blog, http://thejuice.baseballtoaster.com/. Some hilarious comments about the commentary during the Home Run Derby entry:

"And if anyone was wondering, apparantly there was some guy named Hee Seop Choi who hit a few out during the all-important Reggie Jackson and Joe Morgan Good Ole Days time."

"My wife, during that sequence, said "I never knew it would be so much fun to listen to someone (Morgan) kiss his own ass. Oh, wait, it's not." Joe, you know, didn't play in but 10 ASG's."