A couple of Home Run Derby Thoughts

You know, when I was watching the Home Run Derby tonight, I have to admit at the start wanting Ryan Howard to win. First because I’m a Phillies fan, and second because he was the defending champ. However, after the thing got started, I have to admit that I wanted Matt Holliday to win the thing. Something about him seemed like “nice guy”. Not that Howard or any of the other guys aren’t, just wanted him to win. But I’ve always been a Vlad Guerrero fan, going back to his days in Montreal. So I was glad he got it.

I did not start watching the Derby until about 9:30PM. This is a good thing, as it allowed me to skip all the garbage in between hitting the balls. It’s toned down a bit, I really detested the accosting of the player coming out of the batters circle to ask them what they thought. GAH – hate that! Thank God for TiVo so I can skip all that, and just watch the balls being hit.

And speaking of the balls, did anyone else have serious issues simply finding the balls in flight? I could barely see most of them in flight, it wasn’t until you saw people again that you could pick up the balls.

Chris Berman seemed to be much more toned down than in previous years. Much less of “back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back ” on home run calls. That’s good. I don’t mind that shtick by him, but it really has gone overboard in the last few years or so. Nice to see that pulled back.

I still would have loved to have seen Bonds in this thing. I actually don’t totally mind his stated answer as to why he wasn’t doing it, which I heard on XM today as “I feel it’s time for the young kids to have the spotlight” (I’m paraphrasing there, but you get the idea). Nice PC answer, but still a bit of a surprise to hear that.

Also, what is with the disrespecting of Albert Pujols I think it was by spending most of his time at bat yakking to Arod about the Yankees? Who cares? I actually watched that in 2x speed so I could still see, and not have to listen to that. Ugh.

There were some really nice overhead views of the Giants park. To anyone reading this who has actually attended games there… Is that really nice view of the water even viewable from the lower deck seats? From the way the stadium is constructed, I would think you’d have to be in the upper deck to get that great view.

And speaking of “views”.. Check out these shots I saw of all the boat guys in McCovey Cove (was nice to see Willie McCovey out there, too)…

Honestly – it seems stupid to be in the mosh pit like that. I imagine people getting stuck under capsized boats. And what’s with the last one? Do they see the ball coming and all back away or something? If not, how does the ball find that little spot of open water in between all those boats like that? :) The funny thing about all those guys out there was the fact that I don’t think more than 3-4 balls were even hit out there. I can only recall one for sure, and one that might have gone in there. There had to be more than just 2, right? :) Oh, and they should have had more shots from Kenny Mayne’s camera. That was pretty amusing.
And finally, this has nothing to do with the Home Run Derby, but.. Did you see the footage from the Rockies / Phillies game on Sunday? The footage of the tarp being blown around by high winds? It was quite amusing to see the Phillies players all run out on the field and help out the grounds crew by holding the thing down. Not sure why the Rockies players didn’t do that, but the footage was quite amusing, although it did look like some of the grounds crew could have seriously been hurt. Check out a story about it, there’s a video clip, too.

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