Fielder swings hard at lukewarm Derby

ST. LOUIS – The silence that permeated Busch Stadium during the majority of the Home Run Derby on Monday night met its equal during the news conference minutes after the contest ended. Prince Fielder(notes) sat atop the dais all smiles, a big trophy in front of him and 10,087 feet of home runs behind him, when somebody who knew no better asked Fielder about his dad.

On the surface, it was a reasonable question, Cecil Fielder being the last player to hit 50 home runs when 50 home runs were a cause for astonishment. Unfortunately, it glossed over the fact that Cecil is allegedly a compulsive gambler who blew through $200,000 of Prince's signing bonus and caused a rift that remains wide open.

Nothing to dampen a celebration quite like asking the champ whether he'd talked with his estranged father prior to the Derby.

"Uh, no," Prince said, and crickets chirped for a moment before the proceedings continued.

It was that sort of night, one for critters' voices to be heard. Fielder's victory was met with the excitement reserved for Arbor Day. Sure, his Milwaukee teammates Ryan Braun and Trevor Hoffman(notes) congratulated him at the plate after his final home run sailed 423 feet to defeat his former minor league teammate, Nelson Cruz(notes). And Fielder's two sons, Jaden and Haven, bopped around like they were having the best time in the world.

Problem was, Albert Pujols(notes) barely made it out of the first round.

And Ryan Howard(notes) couldn't get to the finals, either.

Oh, and Josh Hamilton(notes), patron saint of the Derby, spent his entire evening cheering for Cruz, his Texas Rangers teammate.

Certainly Fielder deserved more than the scant cheers afforded him by a crowd that wanted their hometown guy (Pujols) or homegrown guy (Howard) to face off in the finals – and his National League teammates, who had hit the town long before the Derby ended. The Fielder of two years ago – the one who hit 50 home runs as a 23-year-old – is back in full force. His 22 home runs rank sixth in baseball and his 78 RBIs second behind Pujols. Only Pujols and Joe Mauer(notes) get on base at a higher clip, and Fielder's slugging percentage trails just theirs and that of Raul Ibanez(notes).

In other words: If not for Pujols, Fielder might be the best hitter in the National League.

Which is somewhat laughable when considering his – and this term is used loosely – physique. Prince inherited his father's shape. He might be the portliest vegetarian around. It's part of his charm, of course, as his torque-generating swing during the Derby caused his belly to jiggle ever so, as though it was doing a victory dance for each home run.

Fielder hit 23 in all, and they averaged 439 feet, the high in this year's Derby. After a few bleeders in the first round, Fielder amped up and didn't hit one shorter than 416 feet from thereon. His coup de grace was the final homer of the second round, a 503-foot shot to right-center field that nearly left the stadium.

Never had Fielder hit a 500-foot-plus home run, at least not that he knew of. It almost certainly won't be the last, not with a swing that in high school was frowned upon for its violence. Coaches suggested Fielder calm down just a little.

"I just don't know how to do that," he said. "My swing is kind of hard, but it works."

Well enough Monday to vanquish Cruz 6-5 in the final round. Fielder switched bats in the middle of the contest, dropping teammate Rickie Weeks'(notes) for Braun's, which was longer. This is nothing new. Fielder said he last used his own bat in May.

Not even that could get a sellout crowd involved. Fans clapped politely for all but the longest homers, the exception being for Pujols. He arrived to a presidential applause and a storm of flashbulbs, and he rewarded his lieges with one home run and seven outs.

They started to chant: "Let's go, Al-bert! Let's go, Al-bert!" And he went for a bit: 416 feet to center field, and then the cheapie homer of the night, yanked over the right field fence by Jeffrey Maier's Midwest doppelganger. With one out left, Pujols yanked a pair of dramatic homers to force a three-way swing-off, where he beat Mauer and Carlos Pena(notes).

The stage was set, the script written, the ending perfect: Pujols, in the midst of his MVP season, wins the Derby at home. Nah, the Derby gods decided. Too saccharine. Let Prince win and then have someone ruin it by asking about his dad.

Altogether, it wasn't the worst Derby. Fielder and Cruz hit some rockets. Others, like Pena, took so many pitches you'd have thought it was a Walk Derby. It's just that, compared to last season's – perhaps the moment of the year in all of baseball – nothing could stand up. Hamilton hit 28 home runs himself in the first round. It took the first five guys to hit 28 this year.

Fielder tried his damndest to put on a show, and he put all 268 pounds to good use. But was he Hamilton?

Uh, no.