Home Run Trout — Mike Trout becomes first-ever to be All-Star MVP twice in a row, as his lead-off Home Run (the first in 38 years) and scoring of the go-ahead run in the 5th inning lead the AL to their third straight victory, 6-3
KISS it Goodbye. It must be in the Genes… Now Mike Trout can Rock and Roll All Night, and Party Every Day.
The reigning 2014 AL MVP and reigning 2014 All-Star MVP is now the reigning 2015 All-Star MVP, as the Angels’ Mike Trout has once again proven himself to be the best Baseball Player in the World. It was a pretty successful night for the Los Angeles Angels, ALL at the expense of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Avenging the results of the Home Run Derby semifinals the night before (when Dodger Joc Pederson eliminated Angel Albert Pujols by just 1 Tater), the first 3 runs of the game for the AL were ALL scored by Angels, and they all came against Dodger Pitchers.
Trout’s lead-off, opposite field Home Run, which barely cleared Cincinnati’s short fence in right field, was an early spoiler for NL Starter Zach Greinke of the Dodgers. Greinke came in on fire lately, having the 4th-lowest ERA of anyone coming into an All-Star game, but he was rudely awakened on his 4th toss, by Trout’s line drive HR. The NL tied it up soon thereafter, but in the 5th, against late addition to the roster Dodger Clayton Kershaw, the AL struck two more times. With Trout on second base (he got on base via a fielder’s choice), and with Pujols on first via a Walk, Kershaw gave up the lead run on a Single, as Trout used his vaunted speed to beat the throw of Dodger Pederson. Kershaw then gave up another run when Pujols was Doubled in. Kershaw must have thought it was October instead of July.
It wasn’t just Los Angeles Angels succeeding on Tuesday night — the two players from the University of California Los Angeles also came through… Bruin Gerrit Cole, who leads the entire Major Leagues with 13 Wins this year for the Pirates, pitched the third inning for the NL, and retired the side without giving up a run or even a hit. And in the 9th, Bruin/Giant Brandon Crawford got an RBI Sac Fly in the NL’s late comeback bid.
So now, because of this 6-3, third-straight American League All-Star triumph, if the currently first-place Angels meet the currently first-place Dodgers in a Freeway Series World Series, the Angels would have the all-important Home Field advantage, hosting crucial Game 1, and a potential deciding Game 7, as they had when they knocked off the Giants in Game 7 in Anaheim in 2002 to win their only previous World Championship. Could this be the year for another one? It helps that they will have confidence against the Dodgers’ best two hurlers.