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2010 Home Run Derby: David Ortiz Swings For The Fences, And (Meaningless) Glory

Chris Berman is fine-tuning his "BackBackBackBackBackBackGONE!" which can only mean one thing: it's time for the MLB Home Run Derby.

The 2010 Home Run Derby begins Monday night, at 8 P.M. EDT, and is set to broadcast live from Angel Stadium on ESPN, ESPN 3D (it's ESPN's first program fully produced in 3D) and ESPN Deportes.

The rules, which are painfully simple but yet will be repeated roughly 1843 times tonight, are as follows:

  • hit a home run
  • if you swing and don't hit a home run, it's an out
  • after 10 outs, your round is over
  • all eight players hit in the first round; the top four move onto to the second round (with totals carrying over from the opening round); the top two slug it out for all the glory in the finals.

From the Mothership, a brief look at the eight participants (none of which are the Blue Jays' José Bautista, who leads all of baseball with 24 home runs, so there's some credibility right there):

American League


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Miguel Cabrera 83 312 64 108 27 1 22 77 43 52 2 3 .346 .423 .651


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - David Ortiz 74 251 46 66 21 0 18 57 50 74 0 1 .263 .384 .562


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Vernon Wells 87 328 46 87 26 1 19 49 25 53 4 2 .265 .319 .524


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Nick Swisher 83 315 55 94 20 3 15 49 37 70 1 1 .298 .377 .524


National League


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Corey Hart 81 306 44 88 19 2 21 65 28 70 4 3 .288 .349 .569


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Matt Holliday 86 327 52 98 25 1 16 51 36 53 6 1 .300 .373 .529


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Chris Young 86 320 48 85 20 0 15 61 32 75 17 2 .266 .330 .469


G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2010 - Hanley Ramirez 86 326 50 98 17 2 13 53 41 48 18 5 .301 .381 .485

WHO'S MISSING

There are currently 11 players in the league with 20 or more home runs. Nine of them - Jose Bautista, Josh Hamilton, Joey Votto, Adam Dunn, Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, Paul Konerko, Mark Reynolds, and Prince Fielder - either declined to participate, or were not invited. Which is how we wound up with Hanley Ramirez, who currently has fewer home runs than Shane Victorino. Meaningful competition!

ODDS & FAVORITES

Coming straight from some place called Sports Interaction:

  • David Ortiz and Miguel Cabrera are tied as favorites to win, at +250, which is a gambling term that means something
  • Hanley Ramirez faces the longest odds, at +1000
  • Nick Swisher is the current favorite to hit the fewest dingers in the first round, at +350
  • Ortiz and Cabrera are also favorites for the longest home run in the first round, and the most first round homers overall

We'll provide live updates after each round for David Ortiz here in this StoryStream.