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Monday, July 14, 2008
Josh Hamilton hits record 28 first-round HRs, but Morneau wins Derby
AWESOME!
Josh Hamilton dreamed it. Now he’s done it.
With a dazzling display of power Monday night, the Texas Rangers slugger hit a record 28 homers in the first round of the All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium before he was beaten out by Minnesota’s Justin Morneau in the finals.
...With the crowd of 53,716 chanting his name, undoubtedly warmed by his improbable journey to stardom, Hamilton connected on 13 consecutive cuts before falling short of the fences on his final two.
“I got chills,” he said.
With his smooth left-handed swing and jaw-dropping power, Hamilton seemed a natural choice to take advantage of Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch. But he cleared the fences with ease, hitting three shots farther than 500 feet — including his longest of 512.
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Also, for the flack he gets for being a dick, Milton Bradley sure seems to be a pretty good teammate. Another case of a player that just doesn't get along with the media...?
Has anyone calculated the distance needed to actually hit one out?
Too bad that Hamilton didn't win the thing. Hitting 28 bombs in the first round is sure to sap some energy though. All those ones he hit with 8 outs in the first round, his swing was so fluid and easy. But that was already completely gone when he took those few second round hacks.
With the next couple games in St. Louis and Anaheim there doesn't appear to be a classic derby on the horizon as neither of those yards have any landmarks to gun for that I can think of. Wrigley needs to get a game.
Can't remember someone crushing the ball off the back wall at Yankee Stadium.
King Karl Ravech said he was going with the veteran Ryan Braun to win the HR contest.
Gammo said he really digs 3 Dours Down.
Erin Andrews has a near-witch nose and should have a NO HD clause written into her contract.
He is truly awful. He's not clever, he takes forever to get to what he's trying to say, and he adds absolutely nothing to the broadcast. That would be my assessment. At least he's cheap.
I'm getting old I guess. I remember the 1990 game like it was yesterday.
Reilly was Reilly. Meaning he was a superdouche. Within the first few minutes he used up his "Who needs steroids?" line and then later ####### that it was all white players. It was pointed out that Guerrero was invited back but declined for health reasons, but it didn't dissuade him from asserting that the derby was racist. Another data point for him was that Ryan Howard wasn't involved. It was pointed out that the only time a player has been in the derby while not in the AS game has been to defend his title. And Reilly thought it pertinent that Howard won a couple years ago, which somehow means he has a title to defend in his pea-sized brain.
If he'd said "Jew" or "Muslim" instead of atheist, his career would be over.
I normally laugh when athletes give all the praise to God....But if Jesus is the difference between Hamilton slowly (or quickly) killing himself, then i'll gladly make an exception.
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I just heard the word "atheist" and thought it was a tastless joke.
Link
What baseball players would you bet on to hit one out in their 60's?
Here I go stirring the pot, but it strikes me how similar this argument is to another one:
Is there any reason at all why the world championship needs to be decided by multiple "rounds?" It seems to me that the team that won 101 games should win, and the fact that they didn't win because they won less in a 7 game series or whatever is silly. Why not just have one round (the 162 game season)?
Of course, in that example there's an obvious answer to that initial question, is there any reason: Yes, there is. Fans like it better. It makes more money. Whether the same reasoning applies to the home run derby setup... I don't know.
The World Series is not, nor is it advertised as, an exhibition.
Yep. It's got it Fred Phelpses and Jerry Fallwells, but religion is a great thing because of how it helps people like Josh.
Only a bunch of miserable pathetic #### would boo Utley
I told my friend I was on the phone with shortly after Utley's "F You" that this was already the best HR Derby ever because of it. ESPN was real good with the censor for the rest of the night, killing sound when a guy would say "####!" when he took a bad swing.
Usually it's kinda BS but if there's ever been a "needed a change of scenery" case it'd be Hamilton.
Why not just make one up, like ESPN did all night?
What did people think of Reilly's commentary? I didn't watch much of the Derby, but over at Bronx Banter, they weren't too pleased with Reilly.
I was listening to Thelonious Monk instead of the tv audio, but I was quite pleased when Reilly left Sports Illustrated, so I'll assume he sucked.
if you gave Reggie Jackson a bat tonight could he hit one out, even at 62?
Yes.
I also had the sound off, but imagined Charles Nelson Reilly doing commentary, and he was damned awesome.
Will the winning team play the winning team from the Yankees Legends game?
Well, to be fair, if Hamilton was burying Shawn Green or.. um.. uh.. there aren't any Muslims in baseball, are there?
Just one.
If he got the right pitch, Jose Contreras probably could have when he was still in his 60's.
I can't really fault a GM for not protecting a guy who had missed multiple seasons of development time due to massive drug problems, and resulting injuries. I'm sure if you asked the Cinci GM (or Chicago GM, as noted in #41), and he was in an honest mood, he would admit that there was no way that he though Hamilton would turn out so good, so quickly, as a Rule 5.
In the case of the Rays, it's not so much that they failed to protect him, as it is that they did protect a few fringe major leaguers who they subsequently released just days later (drawing a blank on names)
EDIT: Damon Hollins was who I was thinking of. They protected him, and released him just days after the draft.
Julio Franco?
Just because he did it in his early 60s is no reason he can still do it.
I wonder if Edinson is a Pulp Fiction. If was really trying to make that (fairly esoteric) reference, that would make the awesomest ASG night ever even awesomer.
that volquez/hamilton trade is insane, btw.
Maybe the New Yorker can make one up.
It reminds me of the 2001 World Series, when the media kept fondling the storyline of the glorious triumph of the New York Yankees over the terrorists and what it meant for America, only to have the D-Backs and their purple and teal uniforms bring the whole thing back down to earth.
Anybody catch the handful of 450 foot Hamilton blasts that Joe Morgan immediately called as outs? That was just delicious.
Surely that was just satire. They didn't have subversive motives. I mean, they said that right?! They do that to every candidate right?
In the video on MLB.com, there is one specific one where he says "That's an out." and it landed in the upper deck.
"Well, it is a short porch in right..." was his response as his boothmates razzed him.
It already seemed weird at the time, but now it seems even weirder that God, if He does indeed exist, would shove it in the atheists' faces by having Hamilton break Bobby Abreu's hallowed first-round record of 24 home runs (was Abreu's night also a bad night for atheists?) and then come right back and force Josh to hit only 3 taters when the contest is on the line. Questionable storytelling sense, God.
P.S. Not only did Erin Andrews snub Justin Morneau for Hamilton immediately post-Derby, but during the trophy presentation she clearly pronounces his name as "Mar-neau," Executive Vice President of MLB Rob Manfred goes with something like "Myrrh-neau," and Boys and Girls Club Giant Check Giver Guy just flat out insults him with "Jason." We get it, guys: Morneau didn't do heroin. So he's bo-ring!
The lesson, as always: it's better to do heroin and then stop doing heroin and then lose the Home Run Derby after an impressive first round than it is to not do heroin and then keep not doing heroin and then win the Home Run Derby after a pedestrian first round. Of course, I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard a thousand times already.
IT WAS A ####### BATTING PRACTICE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God rewarded him for giving his life to Christ by letting him set the Derby record.
Then God punished Hamilton for being so dumb as to believe in Christ by taking his championship away.
I'll second that comment.
And still, despite my saccharine fawning over the Triumph of the Natural, I though the excerpt from firejoemorgan posted above was pretty funny.
ESPN's Karl Ravetch later said it was a suitcase full of cash, but then he also said Ryan Braun was a veteran. I guess he's a veteran in the sense that he's not a rookie and you are forced to be one or the other. Why does Karl Ravetch have a strange accent? He pronounces "out" like it rhymes with "boat" or "Terre Haute," but evidently he's not Canadian.
On another note: If you have Hamilton in a roto league: SELL!!
Morneuo did kinda get shafted at the end, but he looked like he felt guilty too.
The fact that I kept watching a telecast with Berman and Rick Reilly really, really says something too.
Erin Andrews is useless, I mean all sideline reporter are, but she's especially bad.
I kinda feel bad for her cause I've seen her at a few things, and she gets non-stop lame cat calls nonstop at all of them. Like even if she wanted to (whcich she doesn't) she couldn't be a serious reporter.
The only thing lamer than Berman, RR, and ESPNs over-gushing talking heads talking over a really great moment... all the interuption. I like Ortiz, but dude, what a jerkoff thing to do to walk out ACROSS THE DIAMOND while someone else is in the middle of their swings, there's a difference between having fun (like miggy a few years back, or the Venezualians when Abreu won, or Milton Bradley (who seems nice) tongiht) and what Ortiz did. The Yankee fans weren;t booing him because he';s a red sock, they were booing him because he was being an attention whore.
You know, if you gave up with your know-it-all cooler-than-thou #### you might be able to appreciate baseball once or twice. Batting practice DOES mean something, there is a reason scouts pay lots of attention to it. It is a great way to look a pure, raw talent and for a player like Hamilton to come back from everything he has gone through and showcase his pure ability on a national stage is tremendous. I think lots of people don't realize Josh Hamilton wasn't just a "typical" five-tool #1 overall pick. This was a guy several college coaches and pro scouts I have heard or have talked to call "the best high schooler I have ever seen".
I hit at the same batting range as him and met him once. A great, great guy. I don't give one #### about what people say. If you blast Hamilton for his faith, or whatever, I don't know what you can enjoy. Unfortunately, there are too many folks like that out there.
2. David Ortiz said God damn a lot, ESPN censored most, but not all, of them.
3. Hanley Ramirez needs to get his kid under control.
4. I have never before watched more than 5 swings of a HR derby because I just don't think it's that interesting or cool. I watched the entire thing last night. You can poo poo the Derby and All Star Weekend all you want, but if you don't think what Hamilton did was awesome, then you don't like baseball. It wasn't so much that he hit 28 homers in the first as it was that about half of them seemed like they had a legitimate chance to leave the stadium entirely only to disappoint by bouncing off the back walls.
5. It's cool that God saved Josh, but I would imagine that if I were someone who had to be around him all the time I would be really annoyed by his need to bring up his Faith and God all the time.
6. Erin Andrews also had to read off of a card to present the award, which I thought was embarassing, and she still managed to mispronounce Rob Manfred...which really isn't that difficult a name.
Big Chuck rules. Baseball needs more ascots and sailing caps.
What I want to know is what was in that suitcase!
It's the most mysterious suitcase since the one in the WWF that said "Relax With Trudy."
If I was someone who had to be around him all the time, I'd be too happy he wasn't snorting heroin to care.
Look, obviously he's traded one addiction for the other. But annoying is better than dead.
I mean, we had Hamilton doing the most amazing HRD performance people may ever see (I swear, I thought that a few of those balls WOULD go out of the stadium). There was his 71-year old Legion coach. There was the suitcase, and my eternal nemesis Milton Bradley actually apppearing to be a human being (loooong story there that I am not telling you). The Jimmy Rollins Sportscenter commercial was hilarious. And I don't think Berman used a single nickname all night. And you could tell everyone was having fun.
Then, when Morneau won, even he said that Hamilton should have won. And when they make the movie, he probably will win!
I also want to say this: Buck O'Neil said that there was a sound from a bat that only players with the most power could create. He said that there were only three men who he ever hear create that sound: Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson and Bo Jackson. Buck would have loved last night.
Also, I have to feel bad for the dude who was arrested by NYPD in the blacked-out seats last night. He missed the rest of the derby!
Yeah, I loved that the NYPD felt the need to choke the guy. You would think with cameras all over the place they might have the decency not to wrap both hands around a guy's neck as a means of apprehension.
The red carpet they have laid out on 6th ave. is unbelievably corny, though. It's like MLB hired their PR people from a Michael's hobby supply store. They really try their best to make baseball as uncool as they possibly can.
I just assumed it was Marcelus Wallace's soul.
Yeah, it's a really lame story when somebody has a dream--while still suspended from baseball--that they are in a HR derby at Yankee Stadium complete with ESPN interviews and the whole bit...then lives the dream a couple years later. How boring and uninspiring can you get? It's like a total cliche.
Thats what I read once
I'm not surprised. I happened to catch some talk show on ESPN radio yesterday morning; Erin was on from her cell phone. The hosts and Erin did an informal betting pool on who'd win the derby--she wanted Hamilton, but somebody else had already picked him ("I can't pick Josh Hamilton?," sez Erin...), so she reluctantly picked Utley. She then openly mocked the guy who picked Morneau ("some think last year's derby ruined his power," blahblahblah), so seeing the headline amused me.
oh, you tease...
In 1999, Mark McGwire was bumped out in the second round. His HR total in two rounds was the same as the total achieved by Griffey - the winner - in 3 rounds.
It's a fun exhibition no matter who wins it. That Morneau won doesn't detract from the fun of the event - which, I might say, was shaping up to be pretty boring up until Hamilton.
The Yankee fans weren;t booing him because he';s a red sock, they were booing him because he was being an attention whore.
What else had he done up to that point to draw the attention of Yankees fans in the stadium? Sure they showed him on camera a lot, but I don't think he was doing much "look at me!" stuff to warrant it - and the people booing him weren't subjected to that. Just us folks at home were. We were also subjected to Rick Reilly. Atheists had it better than ESPN viewers.
Milton Bradley was far more of an attention whore. Not booed. Hamilton took a break to sign an autograph. Not booed. Volquez delivered luggage. Not booed. There were all kinds of candidates for "attention whore" behavior last night, not booed.
Ortiz was booed before he made it to the plate. Most certainly they were booing him because he's a Red Sox player, and a good one at that. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with admitting it, either. Living under a delusion that they were booing him for behavior they disapprove of is, well... your choice, apparently.
He was 75 but RFK had not been reconfigured for baseball. He hit it out 250 feet away into the football seats.
The word "almost".
I seem to recall the announcers saying yesterday that Hamilton had never discussed this "dream" before this week -- and then reporting it as fact.
Look, I have nothing at all against Josh Hamilton, I LOVED watching him smash the hell out of the ball last night, and I respect him for getting clean. But forgive me if I find this "dream" story more than a little bit dubious.
He's a great player and he crushed the ball last night. That I believe, and that's enough for me.
they were absolutely booing him because he was a Red Sock. Volquez and Bradley were equal in their attention whoredom, but they didn't get booed.
That said. ESPN really didn't need to give us a shot of Ortiz reacting to every single swing taken in the competition.
1) Utley's "f*ck you." Fantastic. He's a favorite of mine now. It would only have been better if he had gone all Eddie Murphy in Coming to America ("yes! yes! f*ck you too!")
2) Erin Andrews cringing when the Boys and Girls Club guy called Morneau "Jason."
3) Billy Crystal playing short in the celebrity softball game. Seriously, the guy's 60, and he looked better out there than Tino Martinez.
Because he was lost, but now is found.
What else had he done up to that point to draw the attention of Yankees fans in the stadium?
He went over to the NL side at the start of the derby. He gave some sort of explanation for this in an interview with Erin Andrews, but I didn't quite get it. When he got up and started walking during Hamilton's first round, I actually thought it was probably a good thing -- Josh had to be getting tired at that point, and a little comic relief from Big Papi would be a good way to get the kid a little break. But then he just walked right past home plate, into the dugout and down the alley without even acknowledging anyone along the way. That was a bit of a head-scratcher.
As it usually goes in such recoveries.
It's a great story and I'm glad I caught some of it. I don't really like the derby but I was flipping around and saw Hamilton and thought I'd watch a bit. I think he'd just hit is first homer with 8 outs. Damn, taht was cool. I didn't watch the end because I figured nothing would happen to top what I'd just seen and, as noted, the announcers were annoying.
But the point about three hours is telling. Three hours for an exhibition is fine but three hours for a baseball game is a crime against humanity.
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