2009 State Farm Home Run Derby!

[Lauren T.]

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/images/email/2009/asg/asg09-email-HR_Derby-3_01.jpg

Who's watching tonight? I'm actually having a mini-party and will be live-blogging from my house tonight. Good times!

Oh, and I'm cheering for fatty Prince Fielder and hottie Joe Mauer. :rolleyes:

[Dreamscape]

Oh, that's tonight?

Crap, and I made plans to do anything but watch the Homerun Derby.

Blast!

[Andy G.]

I'll be watching. I'm gonna pull for Prince too.

[bravos4evr]

I'd rather watch black and white footage of the 1961 homerun derby show featuring Eddie Mathews Versus Hank Aaron. That could put paint to sleep!

[luvdembravos]

Erin Andrews just gave me a reason to watch.

[Wahoo]

I'm watching Pujols bat, and the guy pitching to him is completely screwing him over. The balls are all over the zone, a lot of them out of the strike zone.

[Chris_Moderato]

Erin Andrews just gave me a reason to watch.

They need to show more of her to offset the Berman/Morgan blackhole in the booth.

[ScooterBrave]

Am I the only one getting bored to death by this year's derby? It is just dragging on.

Maybe I got spoiled by Josh Hamilton last year....

[slowride]

Trust me; you're not the only one. They need to change up the rules, and cut the outs from 10 to 5....but then they'd make less money by making it shorter.


BACK BACK BACK BACK BOOOMMMM. headshot.

[Hobbes]

I must be one of the few guys thoroughly unimpressed by Erin Andrews. She's pleasant-looking, but not really a head-turner.

BACK BACK BACK BACK BOOOMMMM. headshot.
This.

[Lauren T.]

This year was fun for me, but then, my roommate and I had 9 guests and a dog in the living room to help us watch. :D Plus, my boy won!!

[JanShan12]

I was at Ozzie Smith's restaurant watching the home run derby on mute with his son, Nikko, singing in the background. It was a lot of fun, but the place was packed because Ozzie was there with some former Cardinals and people were pushing and shoving to get their autographs. I brought a baseball with me just in case, but I didn't even try.

[luvdembravos]

What's more boring than the HR derby? Watching a re-run of it on ESPN two nights later.

[Dreamscape]

I like deadspin's description (http://deadspin.com/5314324/the-home-run-derby-will-rot-your-will-to-live).

...eventually the brain finally catches on and reminds you that you're watching batting practice. And you've been watching batting practice for three hours. It is baseball reduced to its most base instinct. It is explosion without context. It is whippets, temporary sensation caused by the rapid destruction of millions of irreplaceable brain cells, ultimately leading to subdural haematoma.

This is going to sound weird and maybe offensive, but I'm too much of a baseball fan to enjoy the Home Run Derby.

EDIT: I'm going to add to this to try to add context. To me, the casual fan of baseball can enjoy the atmosphere and fun of the Home Run Derby, but I cannot. I watch baseball for little things. The first step the CF gets on the ball, the barehanded pick up of a swinging bunt, and one of my favorite things to watch is the chess match between the runner on first and the pitcher. I remember a Red Sox/Yankees game from 2001 that was amazing to watch. Mike Mussina vs. David Cone and the former nearly tossed a no-hitter. Looking it up now, I think it was Alfonso Soriano who was on first and watching Cone change his delivery, the amount of time he would wait with the ball before pitching, the number of different pickoff moves. That to me is far more amazing than the Home Run Derby and more riveting.

[ScooterBrave]

I like deadspin's description (http://deadspin.com/5314324/the-home-run-derby-will-rot-your-will-to-live).

...eventually the brain finally catches on and reminds you that you're watching batting practice. And you've been watching batting practice for three hours. It is baseball reduced to its most base instinct. It is explosion without context. It is whippets, temporary sensation caused by the rapid destruction of millions of irreplaceable brain cells, ultimately leading to subdural haematoma.

This is going to sound weird and maybe offensive, but I'm too much of a baseball fan to enjoy the Home Run Derby.

EDIT: I'm going to add to this to try to add context. To me, the casual fan of baseball can enjoy the atmosphere and fun of the Home Run Derby, but I cannot. I watch baseball for little things. The first step the CF gets on the ball, the barehanded pick up of a swinging bunt, and one of my favorite things to watch is the chess match between the runner on first and the pitcher. I remember a Red Sox/Yankees game from 2001 that was amazing to watch. Mike Mussina vs. David Cone and the former nearly tossed a no-hitter. Looking it up now, I think it was Alfonso Soriano who was on first and watching Cone change his delivery, the amount of time he would wait with the ball before pitching, the number of different pickoff moves. That to me is far more amazing than the Home Run Derby and more riveting.

Agreed for the most part. I would be a liar, however, if I didn't confess to feeling a little twinge of excitement watching someone display raw power and finesse ripping off a string of boomers. Josh Hamilton was such an experience last year. There were hints of it this year but it never really went anywhere.

[IkeWagner]

I must be one of the few guys thoroughly unimpressed by Erin Andrews. She's pleasant-looking, but not really a head-turner.

I'm with you.