EveryJoe » nelson cruz

Prince Fielder Home Run Derby King

Stephen Kersey — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:59:31 +0000

In the 2009 Home Run Derby, Albert Pujols was supposed to be king. Bashing in front of his St. Louis Cardinals home fans, Pujols was considered the favorite. If Pujols wasn’t going to win, then it had to be hometown hero Ryan Howard, right?

Guess again.

The king on of the Home Run Derby turned out to be a prince — Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers. In the final round of the competition, Fielder was able to out-slug Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers. Both Pujols and Howard were eliminated in earlier rounds.

Fielder hitting the ball hard is nothing new. On the season, he is hitting .315 with 22 homers and 78 RBIs. In 2007, he hit a career-high 50 home runs. At 25, Fielder is considered one of the best power hitters in all of Major League Baseball.

The longest blast of the night was a 503-foot bomb Fielder hit deep into the bleachers. After hitting 11 homers in the first round, Fielder beat Cruz 6-5 in the Home Run Derby Finals.

Prince Fielder Home Run Derby King (Image: Newscom)

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Prince Fielder Home Run Derby King

Cruz and Werth Named All-Stars

Stephen Kersey — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:50:14 +0000

Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers and Jayson Werth of the Philadelphia Phillies have been named to the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Cruz will be replacing Torii Hunter, while Werth will be replacing Carlos Beltran.

Cruz is currently hitting .264 with 20 homers and 50 RBIs. The 29-year-old out of the Dominican Republic has already set career-highs in home runs and RBIs.

Werth is hitting .268 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs. After helping the Phillies capture the 2008 World Series title, the 30-year-old Werth is on pace to have the best season of his big league career.

Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels is currently on the disabled list with a strained abductor. Beltran of the New York Mets has a right knee injury.

The All-Star game will take place on Tuesday. It will be the 80th All-Star game and will be played in the city of St. Louis.

Nelson Cruz - Texas Rangers All-Star (Image: Zuma Press)

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Cruz and Werth Named All-Stars

Nelson Cruz Powers Rangers with Two Homers

Stephen Kersey — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:40:08 +0000

Nelson Cruz usually isn’t the cleanup man for the Texas Rangers. On Saturday against the Houston Astros, he looked like a natural. The native of the Dominican Republic hit a pair of homers to help the Rangers beat their intrastate rivals by a final count of 6-3.

Nelson Cruz - Texas Rangers (Image: Zuma Press)

For the game, Cruz was 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI. On the season, the 28-year-old outfielder is hitting .285 with 11 homers, 30 RBI and 22 runs. Despite his age, Cruz has never played more than 100 games in a season. In 31 games last season, Cruz hit .330 with seven homers and 26 RBI.

On the mound for the Rangers, Scott Feldman went 6.2 innings to pick up his third win of 2009. He gave up five runs and three earned runs while striking out five and walking two.

The win lifted the Rangers to 25-17. Currently, Texas leads the NL West with a 2.5 game lead over the Los Angeles Angels.

With the loss, the Astros are now 18-23 and in last place in the NL Central.

Post from: EveryJoe

Nelson Cruz Powers Rangers with Two Homers