Home Run Derby

This season, no one can hold First Place for more than a week in Home Run Derby.  Four weeks in, and we’ve had six different teams stake their way to the top of weekly leaderboard, only to see that fortune be fleeting.  This week’s King of the Mountain is a 2007 Home Run Derby contest rookie, Empire of Dirt.  Not sure if the team name is in reference to the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt” (or the Johnny Cash cover), but great song either way.

In Second Place is last week’s leader, the El Guapos, followed by a Third Place tie between Master-Batters, Human Growth Hitters and Morneau’s BS MVP.  The best week went to Golden Sombreros (24 HR) who vaulted from a 24th place tie to only four HR back of the leader. 

There’s competition at the bottom of the standings too, as the Komodos fell into the cellar again.  I think Komodo might be on the menu again this Thursday.

Stud of the Week - Torii Hunter (3 HR):  Heck of a week for Spiderman.  First, he broke an archaic MLB rule for which he could have been suspended, later took a wicked pitch to the mouth, and still led Home Run Derby players this week with three dingers and a .400 Batting average.  And he even showed everyone his “Invisible Man” Halloween costume six months early.

BP Pitcher of the Week – Josh Towers, Toronto.  Josh served up Batting Practice to the Texas Rangers on Friday night as both Mark Teixeira and Sammy Sosa went yard, making 29 Derby teams happy.  And it was Teixeira’s first of the season.  Towers was demoted to the Bullpen the next day.

Hot Sluggers

• Sammy Sosa (3 HR): Only 5HR away from 600.
• Prince Fielder (3 HR): Went silent after he stopped playing the Cubs
• Vladimir Guerrero (2 HR): Really liked White Sox pitching 
• Barry Bonds (2 HR): When he wasn’t being walked, he also bat .417
• Grady Sizemore (1 HR): Only 1, but it was an inside-the-parker, so special mention

Cold Sluggers

• Alfonso Soriano (0 HR): I hope the Cubs didn’t pay too much for no HR’s, 1 RBI, 1 Steal and a .301 OBA. 
• David Wright (0 HR): If not for Soriano, he’s the bust of Home Run Derby
• Gary Sheffield (0 HR): 1 HR with a sub-Mendoza .193 and .265 Slug %
• Jacque Jones (0 HR): Anyone wondering why the Cubs couldn’t trade him?

Injury Watch

• Jim Thome is on the DL until at least mid-May
• Ken Griffey Jr has a chest illness and is questionable until Friday
• Nick Swisher has missed five games with a hamstring injury
• Troy Glaus is off the DL

This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 11:31 am and is filed under The Derby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.