Home Runs @ MindSay

Sweet, the Counting Crows just performed to start off the MLB Home Run Derby.

Why is Matt Holliday in the Derby?  They seriously couldn't find anyone else?  Same goes for Alex Rios.

I'm pulling for Magglio Ordonez to win this thing.  Prince Fielder should be able to hit some good homers, if he's anything like his father.

Time to watch!

On a night when Barry Bonds hit home run number 717, the more exciting story for me was Steve Finley's 300th home run.  With the blast, Finley joined the elite 300-300 club, marked by hitting 300 home runs and stealing 300 bases. 

 

Congratulations Steve!

 

Unbelievable!  Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo has hit another home run.  And both of his home runs this season have come off of Chicago Cubs pitcher Glendon Rusch.

 

Arroyo, who hit his first homer since high school off Rusch on April 5 at Great American Ball Park, connected for the Reds' third of the game leading off the third. Arroyo's homer last week was his first hit since 2001.

 

Sammy Sosa is seriously considering retiring from baseball instead of accepting an offer from the Washington Nationals, a source close to the player told ESPNdeportes.com.

 

Sosa has not made a decision regarding the contract offer from Washington, which is a non-guaranteed, one-year pact for $500,000.

 

"Sammy doesn't think of himself as someone who has to beg for a spot on a big league roster," said the source.

Washington's offer is the only one the Dominican slugger and potential Hall of Famer has received this winter.

 

With 588 career home runs, Sosa is the all-time leader among Latin American players. He had three years of 60 or more home runs between 1998 and 2001 as a Cub, becoming enormously popular in Chicago and throughout baseball.

 

However, injuries and some bad publicity, including the discovery of a corked bat in 2003, have affected his legacy and market value.

 

"Sammy wants to get to 600 home runs, but he's not willing to humiliate himself to keep playing. He feels that the lack of interest in his services this winter constitutes a humiliation," added the source.

 

Although the team has not set a deadline for a decision by Sosa, the Nationals would like to have the situation resolved before pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 18. Washington originally only offered a minor league contract, with an invitation to spring training.

 

Sosa is taking his time to mull the decision, consulting with family and friends. Some have encouraged him to continue playing, while others have suggested he leave baseball.

 

Sosa, 37, was released by the Orioles after a disappointing 2005, when he hit .221 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI in 102 games.

 

The "Caribbean Bambino" was affected by various injuries last year, when he made $17 millon in the last season of a five-year deal he signed with Chicago in 2002. Baltimore declined a $18 million option for 2006.

 

The Nationals see Sosa as an insurance policy entering spring training, in case Jose Guillen's shoulder does not heal as quickly as they would like, and also with Alfonso Soriano's apparent refusal to switch from the infield to the outfield.

 

He caught both Lance Berkman's grand slam and Chris Burke's series-winning homer Sunday, which gave Houston a 7-6 victory and ended the longest postseason game in baseball history.

"I never caught one in a game before," said Dean, 25, of Porter.

Berkman's eighth-inning homer was toward Dean, who was sitting in the second row of the boxes above the left-field wall at Minute Maid Park.

"It came right at me," he said in a story in Monday's online edition of the Houston Chronicle. "I just reached over and caught it."

The second catch, which came about three hours later, was a little bit harder to make. He said the ball "came more toward my father-in-law, and he just leaned over and I reached down and caught it."

Dean, comptroller at Joslin Construction, said he probably would give Burke's home run ball to the player because it made history.

Dean said that as he left the park, people were congratulating him.

"I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas," he said.