LINK (Astros.com) Alright we got a chance to see how he did Right Handed lets see how he does Left Handed! How do yall think he is gonna do?
I think he shouldn't compete.... looking at how it messed up Bobby Abreu's swing last year, and how Jim Edmonds got injured in the competition 3 years ago... I don't want Lance participating (especially since this team cannot come CLOSE to overcoming a slump/injury to him). Then again... if he's going to win it... i'll be just as happy as anybody else here.
I can't wait to see him, and I doubt he'll get hurt, he's already been in two of em. I hope he wins. Go Berkman!
he said in the post-game interview the other day that he refuses to bat lefty in it for fear of messing up his swing. he said there is no art to his righty swing, and he just swings as hard as he can anyway, so it's more conducive to the derby.
He did fairly well last time he was in it, if I recall correctly? He was in the finals and lost to Tejada, no?
I thought that was in addendum to the original reason why he WASN'T going to participate... because in Pittsburgh, if you wanted to win, you'd be much better suited to bat left handed (its MUCH easier to hit HR's there lefty, rather than righty... which is like death valley out there in LF). In Houston, he batted righty because of the short porch... he said as much that day itself.
are you sure about that? Berkman seems to hit most of his homers to left field as a lefty. ESP that inside out swing that just barely puts it in the crawford boxes
That's only when pitchers pitch him low and away with 2-seamers, or off-speed stuff... but in a HR hitting contest, you can be damn well sure that he was hitting right handed with the short porch (which he really didn't even need... he obliterated some of those balls). In today's chronicle, he said he may have to bat left-handed... since he's looking to win this thing.
Berkman needs to not play. I think the HR Derby isn't important enough to risk our best batter getting injured trying to shoot the moon.
Just from discussions I have had on Astros.com and on Yahoo Sports some people gave some examples but I don't go by what they say, I just don't want to take the chance. Winning the HR Derby doesn't really man anything towards a players career or entry in to the Hall of Fame so why stress the body of our best batter?
Jim Edmonds in 2003... injured his shoulder after swinging like a mad-man when the ASG was in Chicago. Also, Bobby Abreu's swing was severely jacked up throughout the second half of last year, after he set that record during the HR derby. There are more examples of negatives than there are positives... I really wouldn't mind if Lance didn't participate.
Thank you for getting that info out. I didn't want to in case I was hearing wrong. Berkman needs to pass.
I think everyone is just being paranoid because Lance's bat is so important to this lineup. He'll be just fine.
Lets also remember that Lance has already been in the homerun derbey in 2004 and his stats after the Derby are pretty close to the same thing! his numbers power numbers go down a little but that can be expected becouse every player wears down towards the end of the season! Before Break AVG:.299 H:85 HR:16 RBI:59 After Break AVG:335 H:87 HR:14 RBI:47
He just hit 3 in the first round. Batted lefty. I'm just kinda glad cuz he just took it easy and it doesnt look like it'll ruin his swing
