The Daily Dozen - Home Run Derby Edition

THE DAILY DOZEN
(Twelve  Takeaways from Tonight's Game - 2014 Home Run Derby Edition)

1. Jose Bautista is incredibly talented...can you believe he bounced around the league from Baltimore to Tampa Bay to Kansas City to Pittsburgh (all in 2004) before making his mark in Toronto in 2010 with his amazing 54 home run campaign.  He came over to Toronto in 2008 as a journeyman having never hit more than 16 homers in a season.  Since 2010, he has hit 54, 43, 27, 28 and 17 this season so far.  The guy didn't even use all 7 outs in the 1st round hitting 10 to advance to the AL finals...guess he should have used that last out.  Only 4 in the AL Final...possibly due to being off the field for 2 hours.

2. Yasiel Puig needs to just shut his mouth and drop the antics from now on...how embarrassing for him being shut out in the 1st round!  I saw a tweet tonight that read as follows: "Jose Cano has a 0.00 ERA in the last 2 Home Run Derbies"....CLASSIC.  ESPN had to keep bleeping out Puig as he cussed on "live" television.  CLASSLESS.

"Man, maybe next time I should shave some planets into my hair..." Source: Getty Images

3. Giancarlo Stanton absolutely raked in the 1st round.  The longest home run of the night projected at 510 feet.  Did you see the kid that caught it?  He didn't expect to catch one way up there.  Once again Stanton was thrown off kilter by the long layoff from the new format.

This guys is an absolute beast.

4. Welcome back to Minnesota Justin Morneau!  Barring his concussions he is still a great talent.  He probably tried a little too hard tonight coming back to his "home".

5. There have been several pairs of teammates in the Home Run Derby.  I know this because Burch and a few of our followers reminded me #TGPResearchDept.  Here is the complete list in case you were wondering:

1985 - Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken, Jr (Baltimore) -- was won by Dave Parker with SIX home runs total.  It was a different format with 2 innings total between leagues.  Not many home runs...but with only 6 outs per squad, this was actually impressive.
1990 - Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco (Oakland) combined for 1 home run at Wrigley Field
1991 - Paul O'Neill and Chris Sabo (Cincinnati) -- um Cal Ripken, Jr. hit an unheard of 12 homers at the SkyDome that year.  The previous record was 6 in the very first.  Pauly had 5.
1992 - Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff (San Diego) -- McGwire hit 12 that year matching Ripken
1995 - Ron Gant and Reggie Sanders (Cincinnati) vs. Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez (Cleveland)...OH v OH.  Belle hit 16, a new record.
1998 - Chipper Jones and Javy Lopez (Atlanta)
2003 - Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds (St. Louis)
2011 - Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz (Boston)
2013 - Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson (Oakland) -- Cespedes eliminated his own teammate in the new format.

6. I actually like the new format.  It prevents fatigue and rewards the bashers from the 1st round.  Oh...Stanton just laid a goose egg giving Frazier a 1-0 win in the NL final.  Wait, what's this?  @JoeyBats19 only hit 4 losing to defending champ Cespedes after waiting for 2 hours to hit again.  Nope...don't like the format at all.

7. Robinson Cano looks ridiculous in a Mariners hat.  Just saying.

8. THIS GUY. 

I don't even know what to say.

9. It would have been great to see Mickey Mantle vs. Willie Mays in the old-fashioned Home Run Derby in 1960.   Hard to imagine an event like that with no crowd.

10. Todd Frazier is not very animated.  Even in this picture back in the day with El Capitan:

"Bet you I can hit more home runs than you..."

But get this...he was on the team from New Jersey that won the Little League World Series and was also a Punt, Pass, and Kick Champion...thanks Chris Berman! (sarcasm)

11. The Stand Up 2 Cancer moments are always very moving.  I just wish it wasn't tied to people getting into more debt.  How about you just donate $4 million because you want to MasterCard?

12. The Re2pect Video has gone viral and there is a reason.  Watch it HERE!  The best scene is at 1:12 in my humble opinion. 1.68 million views today alone.