Hamilton Won't Participate In Home Run Derby

Texas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton told a Dallas radio station that he will not participate in this year's Home Run Derby if he was picked to participate. Hamilton participated in the 2008 Home Run Derby at the old Yankee Stadium, and hit a record 28 home runs in the first round. What people tend to forget is that Hamilton actually lost the competition to Twins 1B Justin Morneau. The All-Star Game and its festivities will be held in Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

Players in recent years have showed their reluctance to participate in the Derby. It has shown to affect players' performances after performing in the Derby. The prime example of this has been OF Bobby Abreu of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. When he was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2005, Abreu hit a total of 41 home runs. After the Derby, he was unable to be an effective home run hitter several seasons after that day. It also affected 3B David Wright's swing after he participated in the 2006 Home Run Derby.

Hamilton is currently hitting .337 with 16 home runs and 52 RBIs. He is a big part of the Rangers success so far in the first half, and he probably feels as if participating in the Derby will affect his performance. He is right. The Home Run Derby isn't popular anymore among fans as it used to be many years ago as well. It may be time to start thinking of removing the Derby from All-Star festivities, and it replace it with something else. But for now, that something else may be difficult to come up with.

Tulowitzki Out 6 Weeks

Colorado Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki broke his wrist in Thursday's game against the Minnesota Twins, and will be out for about six weeks. The injury occurred when Tulowitzki was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning by Twins P Alex Burnett. Tulowitzki's wrist will not require surgery, but the best offensive player for the Rockies will be out until August. The Rockies placed him on the disabled list and have called up Chris Nelson from the minor leagues in Tulowitzki's place.

This is a blow to a team who hasn't necessarily produced this season. While the Rockies stand at 35-32, they are in fourth place in the NL West division, behind the first place San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants. The Padres, Dodgers, and Giants have played much better than the Rockies so far, with strong pitching and clutch hitting. The Rockies have P Ubaldo Jimenez, who will most likely win the NL Cy Young award, but that's all they got.

The Rockies will need major offensive production from OF Carlos Gonzalez, who leads the team with 10 home runs so far. He has been missing the past couple of days as well after injuring his knee against the Twins. However, the Rockies will not do enough to overcome the three teams ahead of them. They were in the playoffs last season as the wild card winner, but they'll be spending October at home.

Orioles Fire Trembley

The Baltimore Orioles have finally decided to cut ties with manager Dave Trembley, firing him this morning after the Orioles got off to an awful start. The Orioles opened the season 2-16, already putting them in a major hole in the AL East division. They are currently 15-39 and have gotten swept in their last two series, both on the road to the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees. They only scored 8 runs in the six games in which they lost, an average of only 1.3 runs per game. Third base coach Juan Samuel was appointed interim manager of the Orioles.

After the 2-16 start for the Orioles to the 2010 season, it was inevitable that Trembley was going to be fired. It was just a matter of when, and it is a little surprising the Orioles waited this long to fire him. Trembley becomes the second manager fired this year. Trey Hillman of the Kansas City Royals was fired last month after a 12-23 start for the Royals. That is much better than where the Orioles are now, which makes it more surprising Trembley made it past the middle of May.

It was difficult from the jump for Trembley to succeed with this team this season. 2B Brian Roberts, LF Felix Pie, P Mike Gonzalez, P Jim Johnson, and P Koji Uehara have all been injured this season and spent time on the disabled list. Gonzalez, Johnson, and Uehara are important relievers, which is why they have more blown saves than saves this season. Roberts is the leadoff hitter and the best player on the Orioles, and he hasn't played at all.

In baseball, it is real difficult to turn around a bad team by firing managers. The manager is only responsible for making pitching changes and putting out the best nine hitters on a daily basis. Clearly, the Orioles being last in every major statistical category is a result of how bad the pitchers and hitters are on this team. Injury has played a role, but I don't think with the injured guys in the lineup that they would be contending right now. The only thing anyone can tell Juan Samuel as he takes over the managing position is good luck. He's going to need it.

Ump Costs Galarraga Perfect Game

P Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers was one out away from pitching a perfect game when he got SS Jason Donald of the Cleveland Indians to hit a ground ball. 1B Miguel Cabrera came off of first base to get the ball and Galarraga ran to first to cover. Cabrera threw the ball to Galarraga and he caught it with his foot on the bag before Donald. However, first base umpire Jim Joyce called Donald safe, sending all of the fans in Comerica Park and all of the Tigers players into shock. Tigers' manager Jim Leyland let Joyce have it on the field after the game, and Joyce admitted he got the call wrong after taking a look at the replay following the game.

This blown call from Joyce is reminiscent of a famous blown call made 25 years ago in the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. In Game 6, with the Cardinals up 1-0 in the eighth inning and up 3-2 in the series, first base umpire Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta of the Royals safe when he was clearly out. The Royals went on to win that game 2-1 and won Game 7 in a rout to win the World Series. Denkinger enjoyed a very long career as an umpire, but he is still remembered and will forever be remembered for that blown call.

Another element to this near-perfect game is the fact that there has been two perfect games already this season, in a span of only 25 days. Oakland Athletics P Dallas Braden threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 9, and Philadelphia Phillies P Roy Halladay threw a perfect game this past Saturday against the Florida Marlins. There have never been more than two perfect games in any season in baseball history.

Perfect games have been rare in baseball, that before Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, the most previous perfect game to that point came in 1922, when Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox threw one. There also was a perfect game drought from 1968 to 1981. Galarraga's perfect game would've been three this season alone, combined with Colorado Rockies P Ubaldo Jimenez no-hitter earlier this season, and this season has been strange.