Hoskins wows crowd in Home Run Derby
WASHINGTON » Some day, Rhys Hoskins hopes to play on a Tuesday of an AllStar break, representing the Phillies in the main event.
Monday, the second-year major-league outfield gave a small hint at why that is possible, entertaining fans in Nationals Park with enough power to reach the second round of the Home Run Derby.
Hoskins, the No. 8 seed, hit 17 home runs in four minutes. That was enough to oust top-seeded Jose Aguilar of the Milwaukee Brewers, who hit 12. That display earned him half a standing ovation from Washington fans willing to put aside N.L. East rivalries for the occasion.
That sent Hoskins to the second round of the 16-competitor tournament
Before the Derby, Hoskins was wary of Aguilar, who is 6-3 and 250 pounds and leads the major leagues with 24 home runs.
“The guy’s big,” he said. “Big and scary. But it is just cool to be here with these guys and enjoy this on such a cool stage.”
Phillies minor-league infield instructor Chris Truby pitched to Hoskins.
*** National League manager Dave Roberts made the expected and reasonable choice of the Nationals’ Max Scherzer as his starting pitcher.
Less predictable was that Aaron Nola apparently would be far from consideration. After dropping that Jacob deGrom would follow Scherzer in the rotation, Roberts proclaimed a drop-off from there.
“For me, you look at the performances of both guys,” the Dodgers’ manager said. “And I think that they are
The Phillies Rhys Hoskins hits during the Home Run Derby, at Nationals Park, Monday in Washington.
very comparable in the league and clearly ahead of the rest in my opinion.”
Scherzer is 12-5 with a 2.41, an established pro who started the All-Star Game last year and a clear treat to the Washington fans. And deGrom has a 1.68 ERA and is 5-4 for the sputtering Mets.
But Nola is 12-3 with a 2.30 ERA … close enough to have been in the conversation in his first All-Star Game.
“Just being out there is going to be pretty cool with me,” said Nola, the Phils’ only All-Star. “I think it’s pretty cool for Scherzer to start. It’s his home field. I think it’s going to be really cool for the fans, too. Wherever I am in the rotation, it’s going to be great. Just to pitch in the All-Star Game is pretty cool.”
Nola is widely expected to make an appearance. That, Gabe Kapler assured when he started him Saturday, not Sunday in Miami. Tuesday would have been Nola’s day to throw, anyway. So Kapler wanted him to throw against All-Stars, just to experience the event.
“Throwing on Saturday would have been my regular day,” Nola said. “And I thought it would be pretty cool and memorable to throw in my first All-Star Game. It’s my first one. And I am just trying to suck everything in, because from what I’ve heard and I know, it’s going to go by quick.”
The Phillies will resume play Friday against the visiting Padres. Nola said he has not yet been officially told he will be the starting pitcher.
*** Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ, who was 12-4 and received an award from Philadelphia’s baseball writers as the Phillies’ top pitcher in their 2009 National League championship season, is an American League All-Star.
Happ, 35, was 26 when he appeared twice in the 2009 World Series. The following July, he was sent to Houston in a package for Roy Oswalt.
Happ, who also made one postseason appearance for the Phils in 2008, remains surprised that the Phillies were not able return to the World Series after 2009.
“Yeah,” he said. “You thought at the time that it was going to be a fiveyear run with everybody they had there. And they still had some really, really good teams. They just weren’t able to get back to the World Series. But those are still some of my best baseball memories, being on that team.” 89TH MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ALL SOURCE: Major League Baseball
Happ is 10-6 for Toronto and has been in trade rumors all season. With the Phillies lacking a lefthanded starter, he would be intrigued by a return to the franchise that made him a third-round draft choice in 2004. It is a place he would not mind someday ending his career.
“Yeah,” he said. “May be.” He would welcome that. “Sure,” he said.
*** If Manny Machado is traded, and that’s all but certain, he will not find it a surprise. After all, his professional emotions have been hardened by at least one rumor already.
“One of my teammates told me I got traded to the Giants,” the Orioles’ shortstop said. “But it was the Tokyo Giants. That was STAR GAME one of the most interesting ones. You never know at this point.”
Machado laughed at the joke.
What he is not laughing at, though, is his continued preference to remain as a shortstop, not a third baseman, with whatever team signs him to his next longterm contract.
“I have been doing that since I was a kid, since I was born, since I picked up a glove,” he said. “That’s all I know how to do. You are just in control of the game. You have the best view of the field. You see what pitch is coming and react to it. You are involved in every play. You are just involved in everything. So it will just be nice to be out there playing the game you love and enjoying everything possible that goes with it.”
Machado could earn as high as a 10-year, $400,000,000 contract before next season.
But he’d settle for $399,000,000 or less … if the situation is right.
“Money doesn’t bring happiness,” Machado said. “If my family is happy, I am happy. That’s all that matters. I don’t know where it is going to be, but as long as my wife and my family comes together and we are happy with the situation, we’ll make a decision then.”
*** Chris Sale of the Red Sox will be a starting pitcher in a third consecutive AllStar Game Monday. The only other pitchers so honored were Lefty Grove and the Phillies’ Robin Roberts, who started in 1953, 1954 and 1955.