Matt Kemp hit one home run in turning in the worst round of the Derby. He was followed by Robinson Cano, the 2011 champion, and everybody's already forgotten whatever Kemp did, because Cano just turned in a round many of us won't forget for a while. The most memorable thing we've seen so far in the 2012 MLB Home Run Derby is Robinson Cano's first round, in which he hit zero home runs.
Home Run Derby 2012: Robinson Cano Embarrasses Self, Yankees
The best parts:
He hit zero home runs
He hit zero home runs! If there was a “big story” about the 2011 Derby, it was that Cano won while being pitched to by his father. He was pitched to by his father just a few minutes ago and he came up literally, completely empty. Cano last year hit eight, 12, and 12 home runs. Zero. Team captain! Mutiny!
The crowd
The Kansas City crowd has been all over Cano for selecting who he did and leaving out Royals DH Billy Butler. They booed Cano when he was introduced, and they cheered louder and louder with every successive out. The biggest ovation probably came when Cano hit a line drive off the top of the fence. That performance by the crowd spurred the most wrong tweet I've seen so far today:
Billy Butler has never stirred this much passion during the regular season. Why now? This is lame.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 10, 2012
This was fantastic. It was something unpredictable, and therefore something surprising and memorable. Nobody’s going to think Kansas City is full of assholes because they laughed at Robinson Cano. They’re going to think Kansas City is hilarious.
The one kid
Finally.
I’m falling way behind and this round deserves more coverage than I’ve given it but I need to keep up. This is the Home Run Derby, this is serious, and here is the serious leaderboard:
Jose Bautista, 11
Carlos Beltran, 7
Mark Trumbo, 7
Prince Fielder, 5
---
Carlos Gonzalez, 4
Andrew McCutchen, 4
Matt Kemp, 1
Robinson Cano, lol
On to the second round, which I guess gets added to the first round? But then the third round is out on its own? This nonsense is really damaging the integrity of the on-field product.
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