Upon the Home Run Derby

Baseball's All-Star extravaganza kicked off with the Home-Run Derby last night.(though officially I guess the MLB Future's Game was the real kick-off, but anyway.) Bobby Abreu made the format look a bit ridiculous by mashing 41 HR in the contest, with a record shattering 24 in Round 1. He faced off against home-towner Pudge Rodriguez in the finals, and got the win. 24 HR obliterated the old record of 15 that Miguel Tejada had set, and made the supposed sprawling confines of Comerica Park look like a Little League WS field. David Ortiz saw nearly 70 pitches in his first round attempt, and though he hit 17 bombs, that is pretty insane. The contest was billed as a a National affair, where each player was representing their "home nation". This formula is supposed to inspire some sort of pride in the competion, and may be designed to create momentum for the World Baseball Cup. I think a pitch limit may need to be imposed, or some other modification may need to be made to the contest. All other sports All-Star competitions have some time-based limit. I'm sure if you asked Peja to hit as many threes as he could before he missed 10, he could hit all day long.