Random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans. With occasional comments on baseball, entertainment, pop culture, and life in general.
With 2024 Home Run Derby winner Teoscar Hernandez not in this year's field, I probably won't be watching this one.
I will say, given his adductor injury earlier this year and his slowed offensive production since, I'm kind of glad he's not participating this year. That said, I was certain that last year's incredible HRD performance was going to impair his ability to mash for the rest of the year--and Teoscar ended up being fine in the second half of 2024 (and it all ended well, right?). But this year, Teoscar could probably use the extra rest.
I suppose I should be excited that the Dodgers' Teoscar Hernandez is one of eight participants in today's Home Run Derby.
Instead, however, I'm just struck by how stretched this team is already by injuries, and worried that another starting lineup injury would be another crushing blow for this already reeling team.
Mookie Betts has to go against Vlad Guerrero Jr. in the first round. In the Dodgers' last homestand, Mookie was impossibly hot. Hoping this carries into Seattle!
It's all about that sweet, sweet lefty home-run swing of Cody Bellinger. He goes up against the Rockies' Charlie Blackmon in the first round and is chasing Joc Pederson's second-place finish in 2015, the best a Dodger has fared in the Home Run Derby. Go Cody!
I didn't watch much of this year's All-Star Game, and only caught snippets of the Home Run Derby. But the lasting brouhaha (besides the National League's 8-0 drubbing of the American League) has been Robinson Cano's relentless booing during his last-place effort at the Home Run Derby.
Cano is a wimp. But his swipe did help reveal to me deeper ills in the All-Star Weekend and format.
Cano picked [Prince] Fielder, now of the Tigers, Jose Bautista and Mark Trumbo for the AL derby squad at the expense of Butler. They finished 1-2-3 in the competition.
"It was a tough decision," Cano said. "It's easy to understand how fans want to see the kid from their hometown. But the fans need to understand, we're not doing it because we don't like other players. We just want to pick the people we think are going to put on a good show for the fans."
And there lies the problem. Cano is clueless about what All-Star Weekend means. He blew the decision, he went back on his word, and now has buckled under the consequences of the decision.
But the truth is, the whole All-Star weekend is an exhibition. And even though the All-Star Game itself "counts" (only in so far as the outcome awards home-field advantage, which has benefited the winning league in six of the nine times since that custom started), the Home Run Derby...is meaningless.
The winner of the Home Run Derby gets recognition, sure. But there is no impact on the regular season.
Which makes it ridiculous that Cano didn't keep his word and give the Kansas City hometown fans someone for which to cheer. The outcome doesn't matter. The players DO matter, to these fans (who pay good money to attend a batting practice event). Why not give them a local hero?
As I mentioned at the start of this post, I didn't watch the Home Run Derby short of Matt Kemp's appearance (but once the booing started for Cano, I held on a bit longer). And I cared about Clayton Kershaw's inning of work last night in the All-Star Game.
The rest of the Derby and Game? Without a Dodger out there, or a compelling storyline elsewhere for this event, I didn't give a hoot about watching it. I mean, sure, the home-field advantage will be great for the Dodgers in October, so that's nice. But it wasn't enough to keep me interested in the game itself (especially since watching the flubber on Pablo Sandoval nauseates me).
Because there weren't any players from my beloved team. All I cared about was watching them.
For Kansas City in particular hosting the All-Star Game, it's frickin' vital to have a hometown representative. This is a city which hasn't had a winning Royals team since 2003. It hasn't had a playoff appearance, or even a divisional pennant, since it won the World Series in 1985, almost 30 years ago. Throw these guys a bone, please.
Robinson Cano, you blew it, and you deserved the boos. The hometown fans deserve better, and you promised it to them and then went back on your word. Like it or not, you've just played right into the villainous Yankee stereotype. Congratulations.
And nice job in the 2012 Home Run Derby, by the way.
Wait, do I get a save for my pitching tonight? No?
Dodgers bullpen catcher Rob Flippo did his best to tie up Matt Kemp in knots tonight, consistently gunning fastballs inside on Home Run Derby participant Matt Kemp, who only scored one HR and didn't get out of the first round.
Luckily for Kemp, Robinson Cano's father Jose also developed a mean fastball in the offseason, completely tying up his son, who ended up homerless in last place.
That's okay, Matty! Save the HR for the second half!
A note about Matt Kemp and the Home Run Derby: opposing the idea of Kemp participating tonight is the easiest position to take. If everything goes fine, you can just say you have the best interests of the team in mind. If he gets hurt, then it's all I TOLD YOU SO. Kemp should definitely be playing tonight. If he's going to get hurt basically taking BP tonight, then he's going to get hurt playing full speed Friday. Let's just enjoy his reentry into the 2012 season.
3/27 vs. AZ (W, 6-4): AC
4/11 vs. TEX (W, 8-7): Sax
5/11 vs. SF (L, 3-9): Sax
5/25 vs. COL (W, 5-3): Sax
6/11 @ PIT (W, 8-6): Sax
6/15 vs. TB (W, 4-3): Nomo
7/4 vs. SD (W, 3-0): Orel, Sax
