Homeruns…

Justin Morneau has class. He acknowledged that the Home Run Derby was all about Josh Hamilton. But, I can’t help but wonder if Hamilton played the contest poorly. Hear me out. It’s great that he set a new Home Run Derby single round hitting record and got a second round by (or is it bye?). But, he failed to employ strategy. You see, in hind sight, all he needed to do to get to the first round was to hit nine or ten. What if he would have stopped when he got his slot? Or what if he would have say, doubled the highest contender’s home runs instead of using all ten of his outs? Then we could have an entirely different outcome. When the slate was wiped clean during the third round, Joe Mauer pointed out that it was still anyone’s win. The question is, when running (hitting) a long race, do you use all your energy during the first leg, or do you pace yourself so you can make it to the end? Morneau played a game of “just enough” which was what it took to win the Derby. Hamilton, so it seems, played for a record, and not to win. When we look back on this year’s Derby, we’ll all remember Josh Hamilton and his spectacular performance, but, and there is a but, Justin Morneau did what it took to win.