Tonight’s homerun derby is less than two hours away and although you won’t see Justin Morneau defending his derby title, you will see Twins star, Joe Mauer. That’s right. The same Mauer who has never hit more than 13 homeruns in a season, but already has 15 homeruns in just two and a half months.

Mauer will compete against other MLB stars in St. Louis including Cardinals star, Albert Pujols, and local St. Louis born, Ryan Howard. It’ll be quite a site to see Mauer, always regarded as an average hitter, rear back and swing for the fences in the derby. If you’ve ever watched Joe in batting practice it seems like he can hit the ball over the fence almost at will. He’s a smart hitter who knows his strengths and what pitches to hit which I think are key attributes to potentially winning the derby tonight.

Mauer will have his high school baseball coach, Jim O’Neill, from Cretin-Derham Hall pitching to him and look for Mauer to surprise many. I like Mauer or Howard as potential winners and I’m excited to watch a Twin swing for the fences. Why not keep that derby title in Minneapolis?

I’m pretty certain I’ve watched the All-Star Game homerun derby every year since I was about nine years old. As a little boy I remember getting so excited for the contest and sitting in front of the television to watch only after getting bored 20 minutes later. I’ll tell you what…. last night was not boring!

Last night was the greatest home run derby I have ever watched (well, I suppose 1998 when I was at the derby in Coors Field would be the greatest) but even on TV this may have been the best. Obviously, the night will always belong to Josh Hamilton and the way he made the derby and Yankee stadium look like a video game. At one point he had a run where 13 straight swings were homeruns, that’s insane! I can’t even do that on Ken Griffey Jr. baseball on my old Super Nintendo.

Hamilton and his incredible story is hard not to love, but in true Justin Morneau fashion, the quiet and calm star secretly won the derby with no one really noticing. Yeah, maybe Hamilton deserved it as he hit more total homers than Justin, but heck, Justin won and lets congratulate him. First Twin to ever win the award and an awesome trophy to add to his collection. Here’s what our homerun king had to say…

CONGRATS JUSTIN!