Morneau named to Home Run Derby
Posted on July 13th, 2008 – 11:36 AMBy La Velle
Twins first baseman Justin Morneau has been named to the American League team for Monday’s Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium.
Morneau, batting .323 with 14 homers and 68 RBI, received a phone call from MLB this morning, when the request was made. And Morneau couldn’t turn down the opportunity to take part in the event in the last season of Yankee Stadium.
This will be the second straight year Morneau has participated in the event. He hit only four home runs last year in San Francisco and failed to get out of the first round.
His pitcher last year was Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. He has selected hitting coach Joe Vavra to be his pitcher this time
20 Responses to "Morneau named to Home Run Derby"
vavra? wasn’t he fired?
First. Nice
Maybe he should have Livan pitch to him… 
That’s a good chance for Vavra to work with Morneau on his “slap hitting”.
Lavelle, where are the lineups?
go morneau! he has as good a chance as anyone with that short right field, although it’s hard to bet against josh hamilton.
didn’t morneau complain that the home run derby disturbed his swing during the 2nd half last season?
Good! Maybe this will help him regain his homerun stroke.
I found the lineup, I just want the normal updates.
Ugh, I hate this since last year it seemed Morneau’s “home run stroke” was outta whack after the Derby.
Game blog is now up. This is not a good computer day.
Morneau blaming the Derby on his lack of power in the second half last year really irritated me. He had the same problem in 2006, hitting 23 in the first half and 11 in the second half. I don’t like players blaming the HR Derby for a lack of power afterward… hitters have been competing in it for years without complications.
I don’t care if Justin hits 30 HR though, as long as he just keeps driving in runs and keeps the average up.
“Morneau blaming the Derby on his lack of power in the second half last year”
My recollection is unclear.
Was it his loss of power, or loss of batting stroke that he blamed on the HR Derby?
how can you complain about Morneau’s batting? That “slap hitting” has him with the 3rd best batting average in the league and 7th best OBP!
chris,
I’m sorry.
I was being facetious.
I have to remind myself that many posters are serious when they say things like that.
MVP should have Johan pitch to him. Didn’t he lead the AL in HR’s allowed last season?
… no truth to rumors that MOrneau had initially requested Livan Hernandez to be his home run derby pitcher.
Ba-dum-bump.
I’d like to see Rick Reed pitch to Jim Thome in the Derby!
Last year, Morneau blamed his 2nd half power slump on the home run hitting contest. Will he use this as his excuse for 2 years in a row?
Remember last time he did this? He lost his rhythm and never regained hie swing in last half.
