Well what we could be witnessing later today could have been one of the greatest baseball exhibitions of all time. Notice that I said could have. We could have seen Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. taking turns splashing baseballs into McCovey Cove and possibly putting on the best pre-All Star moment in sports since Jordan and Dominique lifted the NBA slam dunk contest to new heights. However, having said all that this home run derby is packed with several young power hitters who will carry the game for the next 10 to 15 years. The exhibition will have a few veterans mixed in there as well. Magglio Ordonez, perhaps on his way to an MVP season, will be representing the Detroit Tigers. The Cardinals’ Albert Pujols and the Angels’ Vladimir Guerrero also will showcase their power hitting abilities.
But to me, this derby will be all about the young guns. The Twins’ Justin Morneau has been hotter than anybody in the last few days. He hit three homers on Friday night and added one more on Sunday. The Canadian first baseman is a lefty so he will definitely get a chance to deliver some “ebay balls” out into McCovey Cove.
Prince Fielder will finally actually get to play in an All Star game instead of watching his dad from the stands. I am extremely excited to see Fielder in the home run derby because he may be the hardest swinger in the contest this year. He may pop off a couple of buttons on his jersey when he tries to literally crush the baseball out into the bay.
But none of these sluggers compare to the premier power hitter in the majors the last couple of years, the Phillies’ Ryan Howard. There may be other hitters with more homers than Howard, but no one hits ’em harder than Mr. Ryan Howard. Just last week, Howard hit one over 505 feet against the Reds. Now imagine what it would look like if he pulls one that hard into McCovey Cove. That would be amazing to watch and very amusing to see everyone having to back up in the bay to go chasing after it.
Now for my predictions for today’s contest. Just to let you know, I am a die hard Braves fan so I have no favoritism for any one player in this year’s competition. After Guerrero puts on a show in the first round, he will be reminded that he is 31 years of age when fatigue becomes a major factor in the final four. Joining Guerrero in the semifinals will be Howard, Morneau and the underdog surprise Alex Rios.
So even though Bonds, Griffey and A-Rod will be MIA when it comes derby time, I have a feeling these youngsters will make us all wonder why we all wanted to see these “old guys” anyways.Advancing to the finals, will be the two big first basemen, Howard and Morneau. That way the finals will be the National League versus the American League. This will be an excellent final with two big lefties slugging balls out into the bay. But in the end it will be Howard repeating in the home run derby. For some reason, I think that Howard’s game was built for events like this one.
