Albert Pujols is to hitting baseballs as Chris Brown is to ... what? Too soon?
Baseball's All-Star Break is the ultimate "gift and the curse" scenario. It starts with the Home Run Derby, which is usually more interesting than the game itself. The baseball slugging event features the game's best power hitters socking dingers that do not land until they land in a different time zone.
This year's event features a pair of hometown heroes. Everyone knows about Albert Pujols, his 32 homers, 87 ribbies and his .723 slugging percentage which is higher than Alfonso Soriano's current OPS.
But what about Ryan Howard? The St. Louis native and Missouri State University product has 22 homers in his first season coming off a world championship with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Last season, I correctly picked Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau as the home run champ. Even though ESPN would like you to believe that it was Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton who did the trick.
This year, I'm going out on a limb. Kind of. My pick to click tonight is Howard, who owns the following numbers at Busch Stadium Jr.:
This year's event features a pair of hometown heroes. Everyone knows about Albert Pujols, his 32 homers, 87 ribbies and his .723 slugging percentage which is higher than Alfonso Soriano's current OPS.
But what about Ryan Howard? The St. Louis native and Missouri State University product has 22 homers in his first season coming off a world championship with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Last season, I correctly picked Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau as the home run champ. Even though ESPN would like you to believe that it was Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton who did the trick.
This year, I'm going out on a limb. Kind of. My pick to click tonight is Howard, who owns the following numbers at Busch Stadium Jr.:
- .381 batting average
- .536 on-base percentage
- .746 slugging percentage
- 1.282 OPS
- .436 BAbip (batting average of balls put in play)
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