Home Run Derby Predictions

By Tony Mazur

Tonight's the night of the 23 Annual Home Run Derby, brought to us by State Farm Insurance. Why I plugged them, I don't know. Unintentional.

A couple of comments before I begin my predictions.

Take a look at the lineup:

Lance Berkman, Houston
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee
Josh Hamilton, Texas
Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay
Justin Morneau, Minnesota
Grady Sizemore, Cleveland
Dan Uggla, Florida
Chase Utley, Philadelphia

Notice anything about these players?

They're all great hitters. But they're not home run hitters. They can hit home runs, but they are more known for their hitting.

Anyways, here's how I see this going down.

The right field stands at Yankee Stadium favors the left handers, with it being only 314' down the line. The left field line is only 318' from home plate, but it quickly opens up a mere 20' from the foul pole.

That being said, I predict that we'll see two lefties and two righties make it to the second round.

I have Lance Berkman kicking the show off with some bombs into the upper deck right field, enough to make it to the second round.

Ryan Braun will surprise the casual fan with a few blasts of his own, punching his ticket to the second round.

I believe that Hamilton, Longoria, and Sizemore will struggle in their moon shot attempts, thus leaving them just shy of going to the next round. But Justin Morneau will hit his share of line drives over the short fence in right and move on.

I say that Dan Uggla will hit enough home runs to make it to the second round, but he'll really show his power in round number 2.

The player with the most home runs in the regular season on this team will hit a lot of would-be extra base hits, but remember, it only counts if the ball goes over the fence in fair territory. Utley is out.

Lance Berkman powers his way past Braun to move onto the finals.

Dan Uggla shows that he's an MVP-caliber players by hitting some bombs, knocking out Morneau.

In a hard-fought battle, Dan Uggla is your 2008 State Farm Home Run Derby champion.