That was amazing

Josh Hamilton didn't win the Home Run Derby tonight, amazingly enough. But we've never seen the likes of the 28 home runs he hit in the first round, and we may never see it again. He was just cranking them, one after another. It didn't seem to matter where the ball was pitched, either. Low and inside? Boom, 500 feet to left. High and outside? Boom, 500 feet to center.

As has almost always been the case, the guy with the killer first round ran out of gas before it was over. I think the scoring should be changed. Justin Morneau hit five in the third round, beating Hamilton's three. But Morneau hit, what, eight in the first round? (I may be misremembering, but I can't seem to find the numbers anywhere, and I want to go to bed.) Hamilton hit a total of 35, if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember how many Morneau hit in the second round, but I think he wound up with a total of about 20. Hamilton hit 13 straight at one point. That's more than anyone else hit in an entire round. He should be the champion.

Mike Davidson, VP and chief marketing officer of State Farm Insurance, called Morneau "Jason" as he got ready to hand the Boys and Girls Club for which Morneau was playing. Morneau was gracious in calling it "his show," referring to Hamilton, and said he himself had won because he "got lucky." Justin Morneau is a good guy, and I admire him for saying that. And he's right, this was Josh Hamilton's show. The crowd at Yankee Stadium chanted "Ham-il-ton! Ham-il-ton!" as he took his cuts in the final round, but he just didn't have any starch left. I won't go into his recovery from heroin addiction, as it's undoubtedly going to be fodder for many a column elsewhere.

Our guy Grady Sizemore acquitted himself well, hitting six in the first round. He fell just one short of moving along to the second round.

Our other guy in New York, Cliff Lee, is the All-Star starter for the American League, making him the first Indian moundsman to start the All-Star Game since Charles Nagy in 1996. And he deserves it, after his 12-2, 2.31 first half. As has been covered in this space and many others, it's an amazing turnaround story from last year, when he was so bad he got sent down for a while and didn't even make the postseason roster. In spring training this year, he was fighting Jeremy Sowers for the fifth spot in the rotation. And now he's the American League's starting pitcher for the All-Star Game. If a few more Tribesmen were playing like that, we'd still have CC Sabathia and still be in the hunt for the playoffs.

But enough about that. If you follow this link, you can see Cliff talking humbly at a press conference about being named the starter. Congratulations, Cliff. You've earned it.