In yesterday’s Home Run Derby, Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland A’s and Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals put on quite a show. At the end, it was the Cuban outfielder beating the 21-year-old 9-8 in the final round, and Cespedes still had five outs to spare. Cespedes, who became the first player to win the derby while not being selected to play in the all star game, had a total of 32 homers combined in all his rounds, one of them hit a truck on display some 455 feet from home plate. To me, it was interesting to watch the contrasting styles and homers. Cespedes was launching moon shots, and Harper hit line drives that left the park immediately. Former infielder and now A’s coach Mike Gallego pitched to Cespedes, while Harper’s father served up the dingers to Harper. Fun to watch, but now on to the game.
ESPN.com has all the details of the Derby:
Jayson Stark of ESPN was very impressed and says that Cespedes stole the show last night:
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Yoenis Cespedes became the first player to win the home run derby while not being selected to play in the all star game. He is also the first Cuban-born player to win the derby, but not the first player of Cuban descent to take home the prize. Who dunnit? Tell you later, alligator.
The best of all the all star games in sports is tonight, as the AL takes on the NL, with home field advantage in the world series at play. Max Scherzer of the Tigers will start for the American League, while Matt Harvey of the Mets will toe the rubber in his home park. The Marlins have only one representative in the game, rookie pitcher Jose Fernandez. The youngster has posted some terrific numbers while pitching for the lowest scoring team in the majors. Hopefully, he will get a chance to be at many more all-star games.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com takes a compelling look at the young Marlins’ pitcher and his story:
Here are the starting lineups and batting orders for tonight:
AMERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE
Mike Trout, LF Brandon Phillips, 2B
Robinson Cano, 2B Carlos Beltran, RF
Miguel Cabrera, 3B Joey Votto, 1B
Chris Davis, 1B David Wright, 3B
Jose Bautista, RF Carlos Gonzalez, LF
David Ortiz, DH Michael Cuddyer, DH
Adam Jones, CF Yadier Molina, C
Joe Mauer, C Troy Tulowitzki, SS
JJ Hardy, SS Bryce Harper, CF
Congratulations to MLB for not forcing their inconsistent rules regarding the DH in the all star game. I still insist that if the DH lives in little league, high school, college, minor leagues, and in the American League, it should also live in the National League.
The Marlins will be going on the road after the all-star break, first in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers in a three-game series next weekend, and then off to Colorado to face the Rockies in a four game set. The Fish return home on Friday the 26th for a ten-game homestand: three-games against the Pirates, four against the Mets, and an interleague three-game series against the Cleveland Indians. The Marlins will have Jacob Turner, Nathan Eovaldi, and Henderson Alvarez as the starters in the series against the Brewers next weekend. The Marlins have played very well recently, as evidenced by their 22-17 record since May 31. Here’s hoping that they can keep it up the remainder of the season.
The Fish are still at the bottom of the list in runs scored in MLB, with 306 runs in their 93 games. Here are the rest of the bottom-dwellers:
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 35-58 306
White Sox 37-55 345
Astros 33-61 351
Pirates 56-37 357
Nationals 48-47 357
The Boston Red Sox, in contrast, lead the majors with 498 runs scored in their 97 games.
I have my first-half season awards:
MVP
American League Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
.365, 30 homers, 95 RBI are surreal numbers again. Another triple crown for Miggy this season?
National League Paul Goldschmidt, D-Backs
Goldschmidt is hitting .313, with 21 homers and 77 RBI on a team that nobody expected to be in first place in their division.
CY YOUNG
American League Mariano Rivera, Yankees
With my apologies to all the purists, there isn’t a more dominating pitcher than Rivera. 30 saves in 32 opportunities, with an ERA of 1.83, and 32 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings This is a lifetime achievement selection. Going back to reality, if not for the suspicion of PED’s, I cannot ignore Bartolo Colon of the A’s. The 40-year-old is 12-3 with a 2.70 ERA with the first-place A’s.
National League Patrick Corbin, D-Backs
A record of 11-1 and an ERA of 2.35 at the break is good enough for me.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
American League Jose Iglesias, Red Sox
Huh? Haven’t heard of this guy, have you? All he’s done is hit
.367 so far and has been forced to change positions twice.
National League Jose Fernandez, Marlins
Although he only has a 5-5 record while pitching for the sad-sack Marlins, his 2.75 ERA is impressive as all get-out. 103 strikeouts in 104 innings, while opponents hit a meager .196 against him.
MANAGER OF THE YEAR
American League Joe Madden, Rays
The best manager in baseball has the Rays fighting it out in the toughest division in baseball once again. Honorable mention to Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians.
National League Clint Hurdle, Pirates
Fredi Gonzalez, Braves
The Pirates are headed for their first season over .500 since the American Civil War (ok, I’m exaggerating). Getting into the playoffs may be a little more difficult.
Fredi has the Braves with the biggest division lead at the break, while having played a very difficult schedule the first half of the year. Even with subpar offensive performances from BJ Upton, Jayson Heyward, and Dan Uggla, and with a number of injuries, including his two key set-up men in the bullpen, they are looking more and more like a dangerous team when they get to the postseason.
In case you missed it, the MLB Futures game was played on Sunday, where the top minor league prospects squared off in a USA vs the World format. Here’s the game story from Fox Sports:
Keith Law of ESPN has some of his thoughts on the Futures game, including some very positive feedback on Marlins prospect Christian Yelich:
ESPN’s Rumor Central:
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
In college football, FIU running back Kedrick Rhodes was kicked off the team after a drunken altercation in which he drew and shot a weapon on campus. Another mental midget athlete with a gun who believes he can get away with anything because he is a football player. Apparently, there isn’t enough adult supervision and leadership at FIU any more.
Here are two stories from Herald writer David J. Neal, the second story includes reader comments:
In NFL news, at least Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Yoenis Cespedes became the first player to win the home run derby while not being selected to play in the all star game. He is also the first Cuban-born player to win the derby, but not the first player of Cuban descent to take home the prize. Who dunnit?
Former Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez, who also played for the Marlins one season, won the Home Run Derby in 2001. One of the good guys in baseball.
Don’t miss my two “Descarga Deportiva” radio segments (for the Spanish-challenged, “Sports Jam Session”) every day, Monday through Friday, at 9:25 am and 12:15 pm on Radio Esperanza, 1550 AM or on the internet on www.miradioesperanza.com.
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Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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