Home Run Royalty

He was born with home run bloodlines, but Prince Fielder has become his own man and very much his own home run hitter. Last night he captured the 2009 All-Star Home Run Derby in one of the longest, most boring nights in the event's history.

Fielder is quietly having a magnificent season. It hasn't caught the attention of the baseball world due to Fielder's All-Star teammate Albert Pujols, whose 32 HR and 87 RBI dwarf everyone. But the Prince of Milwaukee has hit 22 home runs and driven in 78 runs of his own.

But unless an injury or a fantastic second half by the Brewers occurs, Fielder will watch as someone else, likely Pujols, hoists the NL MVP trophy.

As for the competition, I have to admit right off the bat (no pun intended) that I did not watch much of it. What I did watch was boring. I even shut it off before it was over.

It went on for an interminable amount of time and I had to have the sound off most of the time so I didn't have to hear ESPN's version of the 3 Stooges - Chris Berman, Joe Morgan, and Steve Phillips.

Since the game was in St. Louis, the fans obviously wanted Pujols to win, but he fell well short. In fact, he wouldn't have even advanced past the initial round if not for a fan's assistance (the name Jeffrey Maier is once again being mentioned everywhere).

There were some titanic blasts- Fielder hit one 503 ft., but there was no overwhelming sense of awe like there was when Josh Hamilton did his best to completely leave the yard in Yankee Stadium last year. Maybe that was part of the problem- last year's derby was so tremendous with Justin Morneau and Hamilton going toe to toe in the final season at the old Yankee Stadium, that maybe the event peaked.

As we made our comments known on Twitter last night and shared opinions and views with those we follow and those who follow us, one thing became crystal clear. The event has to be changed or people are not going to tune in.

Not acting like a Big Daddy

Tip of the hat to Jane Heller (aka She-Fan) for letting me know about the rift between Fielder and his Dad, "Big Daddy" Cecil Fielder. I had no idea there was an issue. Did a little research this morning and found that Cecil is a compulsive gambler and blew Prince's $200,000 signing bonus.

It's a real shame. I remember when Cecil was in Detroit and had Prince, who was about 10 or 12 then, there with him. Sports Illustrated had done a piece on it. Hopefully they can resolve their issues and Cecil can get some help.