PHOENIX – Snubbed a year ago, Jose Bautista entered the Home Run Derby as the oddsmaker’s favourite to win it all and a common player’s pick to emerge victorious Monday night.
Instead, the Toronto Blue Jays slugger went one and done at the annual power show, opening strong with homers on his first two swings but going deep just four times in total during a round that did little to show off the thunder in his impressive bat.
Leading the majors in regular-season bombs with 31 at the break will have to suffice.
"It was fun, I got to enjoy it, even though I didn’t qualify for the second round," said Bautista. "I think the nerves got to me a little bit. I’m not really used to hitting without a cage over me for batting practice. It’s a different visual.
"I let, kind of, the emotion of everything take over instead of just being calm and hitting the ball hard."
New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano ended up taking the 2011 crown, hitting a final-round record of 12 homers in an awesome display to surpass the 11 hit by Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
Bringing the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry to a new stage, Gonzalez and Cano also dominated the opening two rounds, tying with a cumulative 20 homers apiece. Captains David Ortiz, the 2010 winner, and Prince Fielder, the 2009 champion, finished behind them with nine homers each after beating Matt Holliday in a swingoff to qualify for the second round. The trio finished the opening round tied at five.
"It was a lot of fun," said Cano, who nailed several of signs well back in the right-field stands with his father pitching to him. "I knew I could hit the ball hard, but not like that. … You never know, and we’re here."
The AL outhomered the NL 76-19.
"I made the right choices," bragged Ortiz, who also sent a message to Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "(Tito) look out, I’m coming to take your job."
Despite leading the big-leagues in home runs at the time, Bautista was passed over for last year’s derby in Anaheim, when Vernon Wells represented the Blue Jays and hit just two home runs.
His absence was noted by Ortiz, who said Monday afternoon he "was disappointed" that Bautista didn’t get chosen. With the change in format this year making him one the AL captain and allowing him to pick his team, he rectified the situation.
Oddsmakers set him as a 3-1 or 4-1 favourite to win, while several all-stars said they expected him to win.
Blue Jays teammate Ricky Romero had no doubts – "He’s the man with the beard," the lefty quipped.
But Bautista said beforehand he would essentially treat the event as batting practice, and not change his swing to try and hit more home runs – an approach Blue Jays manager John Farrell praised. That left the third baseman unsure of how he would fare in the derby.
Afterwards, he said it was harder than stepping into the box at Yankee Stadium.
"Of course," said Bautista. "There’s only one thing you can do here, it doesn’t matter if you hit the ball hard, you’ve got to hit it over the fence. When I’m at the plate (in a game) I just have to hit it hard and then it’s out of my control. Here, I have to hit it over, there’s an objective to it, it’s not as easy."
Blue Jays bullpen catcher Alex Andreopoulos came along to Phoenix and did the pitching because, as Bautista put it, "we get in sync sometimes and I get to hit a couple of balls pretty hard."
That didn’t quite happen Monday, with Bautista pausing between early swings to ask for the ball in a different spot. And with two home runs and five outs, he paused at home for a drink and huddled with Ortiz and Cano for a little conference.
He homered twice with nine outs before hitting a weak fly ball to end his round.
"(Ortiz) just told me to relax," said Bautista. "It helped a little bit. He told me to swing at good pitches and when I go after it, go after it good, and that’s what I did."
Still, he fared much better than Rickie Weeks of the Milwaukee Brewers and Matt Kemp of Los Angeles Dodgers, who finished with three and two home runs after getting booed mercilessly by a crowd angry they were chosen over Arizona’s Justin Upton.
Weeks, in particular, had a tough go of it with a swing and miss, a foul straight back and an infield fly among his swings.
But he at least a couple of impressive drives in his lot – Kemp struggled to elevate the ball and his two home runs did little to ease the jeers.
