Well, well, well. Maybe it wasn’t the juice after all. The artist formerly known as Pudge more than tripled his home run tally from the regular season in a little under 3 hours at the Home Run Derby. Personally I would have taken the under on a bet of 5 homers, yet Pudge astonished the crowd with 20 total homers. Of course that was less than half of the eventual winner, Bobby Abreu.
The display of power hitting by Pudge raised the eyebrows of the entire All Star crowd and many Detroit fans watching the Home Run Derby at home. What caused this sudden influx of power? We have seen it from Pudge in the past, but The artist formerly known as Pudge has shown very little power all season.
Was Pudge driven by the All Stars watching him intently, keen on ensuring his peers continued to think highly of him? Was it the electrifying atmosphere and the entire home crowd singing his tune? Has Pudge been facing Nolan Ryan and Cy Young all season? Do the Tigers need to trade Samuel to the Royals, so he can pitch to Pudge. Pudge proved he can wallop 3rd base coach pitching.
Perhaps Pudge was focusing his power all season for this very night, siphoning it deep into his bowels, so on that one night in July he could explode in a flourish of home run hitting. Or maybe he has been hitting intelligently all season, not trying to hit the ball out of Comerica Park every at bat, instead just trying to get on base…??…nah.
Ivan Rodriguez was far from a sucker bet for the All Star team. He definitely wasn’t a Fuentes style All Star, the type that was only selected because everybody else on his team was less worthy than him and the team needed a representative. The Tigers had Jeremy Bonderman and to a lesser extent Brandon Inge, that had a look in at the All Star team. Whatever it was that possessed Pudge on Monday night, I for one wouldn’t mind seeing a little bit more of it for the remainder of the season.
3 comments:
Nick, buddy - I can explain Pudge's "sudden influx of power" in just two little words:
Grooved. Pitching.
Dude, it's the freaking Home Run Derby. Each guy has a personal pitcher whose sole responsibility is to fire 80 MPH fastballs right down the heart of the plate in that hitter's favorite location. They're not trying to get him out.
Do you honestly think there was even a single knowledgeable person watching Pudge hit beachballs over the fence and thinking to themselves, "Huh - how come he can't do that during the regular season?" Give us a break.
Nick - I'm the king of satire, sarcasm and wit; if I didn't get it, you didn't convey it.
But I'll give you credit for the attempt.
mick kelleher actually pitched to pudge.
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