Mike Trout stands as the best of baseball's best – again

CINCINNATI – Fill a field with the best players in the game, line two dugout rails with more, turn on the lights and the best player on the field is Mike Trout, age 22.

Change venues, do it all again, and the best player on the field is Mike Trout, age 23.

Over 364 days, he was MVP of the 85th All-Star Game, MVP of the American League and, on Tuesday night, MVP of the 86th All-Star Game.

Then Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles told a television camera, "He's the white Bo Jackson."

That big, that strong, that fast, the way Bo was for a flash, the way the more skilled Trout is at a time when his game is still coming.

Trout homered on the game's fourth pitch, a fastball away he rode a couple rows deep into the right-field bleachers. He outran a sure double-play grounder and scored four innings later. He walked two innings after that. The American League beat the National League 6-3 at Great American Ball Park, and for the thousand small reasons it did, chief among them was Trout, who is simply better than everyone else, the way Willie Mays was, the way Hank Aaron was, the way all the greats were.

It is one thing to stand above a crowd on a random day in Anaheim, or even many random days, and another matter to hold that ground when the standard is greatness.

So Jacob deGrom strikes out Stephen Vogt, Jason Kipnis and Jose Iglesias for the NL in the sixth inning on 10 pitches, some of those pitches at 98 mph.

And Aroldis Chapman strikes out Brock Holt, Mike Moustakas and Mark Teixeira for the NL in the ninth inning on 14 pitches, two of them at 103 mph.

And Prince Fielder keeps at his comeback season after neck surgery, with a hit and an RBI off fellow left-hander Clayton Kershaw, then another RBI on a sacrifice fly.

And the Kansas City Royals continue their run of magic, stuffing the AL roster with players, running the game from the top step, and claiming home-field advantage for the American League for the third consecutive October.

And Cincinnati comes to life with a Pete Rose moment and fake mustaches and a hometown Home Run Derby champ and a lot of cool stuff that included just enough clear skies.

And in the end it was Trout who holds another glass bat, and Trout who picks the truck over the car, and Trout who dresses quickly so he can board a jet he'd share with Todd Frazier for a flight back to Jersey, and Trout who is the first back-to-back All-Star MVP in the history of these things.

"It's been awesome," Trout said. "It's obviously a humbling honor with the MVPs. Just the hard work in the offseason you put in, the hard work before games, the preparation."

Then he did what Mike Trout nearly always does in these situations, which there have been plenty of. He deflected. He'd come to the interview room a few minutes early, so sat on a metal chair half-listening to AL manager Ned Yost and half-jabbing at the letters on his cell phone. When Yost started talking about Trout, Trout pushed his cap back on his head and absently brushed his lips with his fingers. He at times appears uncomfortable with the praise, with the notion that he must answer for what everyone else sees in him, what he also surely sees in himself. But to have it out there, spoken aloud, well, he's better at the game than he is at the opinions that form from the game.

Yost was saying, "He's just special. He can do anything that anybody can do on a baseball field. … When you look at Mike, you don't look at a 23-year-old. You look at a guy that is one of the best baseball players on the planet."

Trout stared blankly at the back wall.

When it was his turn, Trout said, yes, it was all very cool, and he enjoyed it very much, then had to add, "Obviously, my teammates. Can't do it without them. They get on base. I can't thank them enough. My coaches, they put me in great situations. They teach me how to play the game the right way. I can't thank them enough."

He said the All-Star experience was better with fellow Angels Albert Pujols and Hector Santiago being around, too.

But what comes off his bat is different, and he must know that. He is 5 for 10 as an All-Star. In four All-Star Games, he has hit for the cycle – a single, two doubles, a triple and a home run. Four others have been MVP twice – the Hall of Famers Mays, Cal Ripken Jr. and Gary Carter, and Steve Garvey. Trout just keeps showing up and winning them, playing a game that seems to follow him, or maybe he's chasing it. Either way, the result is the same.

They invite the best, they line the field, they invite people to come watch and broadcast it to the world, and the best among them is Mike Trout. Again.

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