2012's Home Run Derby Controvery Caused By Noted Mediocre Home Run Hitter Billy Butler

2012 MLB All-Star Game Final Score: N.L. Thumps A.L., 8-0

The MLB All-Star Game isn't normally known for its offense, but that was not the case on Tuesday night in Kansas City, as the National League won the 2012 All-Star Game by the score of 8-0. The N.L. jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back from there, as their final run total was greater than the total number of hits (six) accumulated by the American League.

Those five runs came off of reigning AL Cy Young Justin Verlander, who gave up four hits and walked two batters in his sole inning of work. Ryan Braun got the scoring going for the N.L. when he doubled home Melky Cabrera, but the it was Pablo Sandoval (whose inclusion in the starting lineup was maligned) who broke the game open with a three-RBI triple to plate Braun, Carlos Beltran and Buster Posey. Dan Uggla capped off the five run first with a single to score Sandoval.

The N.L. did further work in the fourth inning, going up 6-0 when Matt Holliday singled in Rafael Furcal and stretching that lead to what would be the final score when Cabrera smashed a homer to left to score Holliday. All three runs came off Texas Rangers starter Matt Harrison.

As far as Cardinals All-Stars went, Furcal finished the night 1-for-3 with a triple and a run scored. Holliday went 1-for-1 with an RBI and a run and David Freese went 0-for-1 with a strikeout.

For more, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

MLB All-Star Game 2012: Lineup, TV Schedule, Streaming And More

The 2012 MLB All-Star Game in Kansas City takes place on Tuesday night, and the St. Louis Cardinals will be represented by National League manager and former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, OF Carlos Beltran, SS Rafael Furcal and OF Matt Holliday. Beltran and Furcal will be in the starting lineup (hitting No. 5 and No. 9, respectively), while Holliday will be a reserve.

The starting pitchers will be Matt Cain for the NL and Justin Verlander for the AL. The rest of the starting lineups can be found here.

Game date/time: Tuesday, July 10, 7:00 p.m. CT

Location: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

TV: FOX

Streaming: MLB.com

For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Cardinals blog Viva El Birdos. For more news and updates from around the league, drop by Baseball Nation with Rob Neyer.

And for a closer look at the numbers and analysis behind the game, visit the sabermetrics blog Beyond the Box Score or keep up to date with the league's transactions at MLB Daily Dish.

Home Run Derby 2012: Carlos Beltran Can't Stop Prince Fielder's I-70 Series Win

The St. Louis Cardinals may have stopped Prince Fielder's Brewers in the NLCS last year, but during the 2012 Home Run Derby the slugger, now with the Detroit Tigers, established himself as a dominant figure in at least one facet of Missouri baseball, winning the I-70 series with matching victories in Kansas City and during 2009's St. Louis-based All-Star Break. Carlos Beltran, Missouri's sole entrant after Robinson Cano snubbed Billy Butler and was booed for his trouble, failed to advance past the second round, finishing the contest with 12 home runs.

Fielder's outstanding performance masks a less-than-stellar start to his career as a Tiger; he hit just 15 home runs in the first half of the regular season, for a .299/.380/.505 line. The .885 OPS would continue an evens-odds streak of the type that made Reggie Sanders famous; over the last six years he's had an OPS+ between 130 and 139 in even years, and over 150 in odd years.

But now he's won two Home Run Derbies. And when you're employing Prince Fielder, whose primary offensive skills are hitting home runs and drawing walks in part because of all the home runs he hits, that has to be at least a little reassuring.

2012 MLB Home Run Derby Recap: Prince Fielder Takes Home Title

Maybe we should consider Prince Fielder to the be the home run king of Missouri. After winning the Home Run Derby in St. Louis in 2009, Fielder crushed the competition tonight in Kansas City to win his second career Derby title. Fielder faced off with Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista in the final round on Monday night, defeating him 12-to-7.

Initially, though, it didn't look like Fielder would be making much noise. He snuck into the second round with just five homers, only one more than Andrew McCutchen and Carlos Gonzalez, who missed the cut with four each. But from there, Fielder turned on the jets, smashing 23 homers in the Derby's final two rounds. Bautista had the opposite trajectory, hitting 11 homers in the first round, but only nine total in the two subsequent rounds.

Los Angeles Angels thumper Mark Trumbo had arguably the most majestic blasts on the night, but he fell to Bautista in a sudden death "swing-off" in the second round. The two captains, Robinson Cano and Matt Kemp, combined for only a single homer on the night.

For updates on the derby, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

2012 Home Run Derby: St. Louis Winner Prince Fielder Advances To Finals Vs. Jose Bautista

The 2012 Home Run Derby could be a repeat of Missouri's last All-Star Break: Prince Fielder, who won the 2009 competition in St. Louis, advanced to the finals Monday night with a dominant second-round performance. He'll join Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista, who scuffled in the second round before beating Mark Trumbo in a five-swing tiebreaker. Fielder, who's hit multiple 470-foot home runs, currently has the lead in both distance and quantity.

Fielder, who won the Busch Stadium contest for the National League, would be the only man ever to win Home Run Derbies for both leagues, if you're keeping track of that sort of thing. With Beltran's loss in the second round, the National League has been long-ago eliminated.

For more 2012 Home Run Derby coverage, stay tuned here at SB Nation St. Louis. We're a little broken up about Carlos Beltran's elimination, but having watched Fielder's 2009 performance live I'm willing to adopt him as our honorary local angle to the story.

Home Run Derby 2012: Carlos Beltran Fails To Advance To Final Round

Carlos Beltran made a valiant push in the second round of the 2012 Home Run Derby, but he didn't have enough ammo to advance to the final round. Beltran hit five homers in the second round for an aggregate total of 12, which put him far behind Prince Fielder of the Detroit Tigers, Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays and Mark Trumbo of the Los Angeles Angels.

Fielder advanced through with 15 homers, but Bautista and Trumbo were forced to go into a swing off. Despite wowing the crowd with titanic blasts for much of the night, Trumbo fell in sudden death to Bautista. Fielder is a one-time Derby champ, having defeated Nelson Cruz in 2009.

For updates on the derby, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

Home Run Derby 2012: Robinson Cano Shut Out As Kauffman Stadium Boos

The 2012 Home Run Derby's second round counts St. Louis Cardinals star--and former Kansas City Royals fixture--Carlos Beltran among its final four competitors, but it won't have the 2011 derby's best story: Robinson Cano and his BP-throwing father were shutout Monday, as Kauffman Stadium booed throughout in a display that was more stereotypically Philadelphian than Missourian.

Cano hit 32 home runs in last year's derby in Phoenix, edging out Adrian Gonzalez by a single home run. In Monday night's competition Cano simply couldn't get started, flipping popups out to shallow center field. 2009 Home Run Derby champion Prince Fielder, who dominated that competition in Busch Stadium, finished fourth in the first round, taking advantage of Cano's loss to narrowly advance.

After the first round Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, who disappointed in 2011, carries 11 home runs for the Home Run Derby lead. But it's a long competition, and any of the remaining competitors, including the Cardinals' Beltran, could pull away in the next rounds.

Home Run Derby 2012: Carlos Beltran Advances To Second Round

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Carlos Beltran has advanced to the second round of the 2012 Home Run Derby. Beltran swung first on the night and belted seven bombs, and that was more than enough for him to advance. He'll be joined by three of the American League's four participants: Jose Bautista, Mark Trumbo and Prince Fielder.

Fielder will go first in the round, having snuck in with five homers. Beltran and Trumbo were tied for second with seven, and Bautista led the pack with 11. Despite tying with Beltran, it was Trumbo who lit up the crowd in Kansas City with monster homers.

Both Matt Kemp and Robinson Cano, the captains for their respective leagues, bombed out in the first round, hitting a combined one home run.

For updates on the derby, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

Home Run Derby 2012: Carlos Beltran Hits 7 HRs In 1st Round

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran hit first in the 2012 Home Run Derby and got himself off to a nice start, knocking seven out of the park. Beltran needs to finish in the top four to advance to the semifinal round, and based on recent history, he is in good shape to do so -- seven home runs was good enough to advance in each of the last five derbies.

Related: Home Run Derby 2012: Carlos Beltran's Power Returns Just In Time For All-Star Break

Beltran, who received a warm welcome from the KC crowd, has hit 20 home runs for the Cardinals this season.

Beltran will be followed by Jose Bautista, who is looking to improve on a first-round exit in the 2011 Home Run Derby.

For updates on the derby, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

Home Run Derby 2012: Carlos Beltran's Power Returns Just In Time For All-Star Break

Last year Carlos Beltran was one of the best hitters in baseball--.300/.385/.525, for an OPS+ of 155--despite hitting all of 22 home runs, the fewest he'd managed in a full season since 2005. He did it with doubles and triples, 39 and 6 of them, respectively, and a batting average around .300 for the first time in a full season since 2003. This year Beltran's OPS+ is actually slightly lower (150), but he's getting at his distinctly familiar .296/.382/.542 line in a completely different year. This year he's been invited to the 2012 Home Run Derby. So what's changed?

Well, all those doubles and triples he hit last year have, so far, been turned into home runs. After hitting more than twice as many doubles and triples as home runs in 2011, he has just 12 against 20 home runs in 2012. It's a trade most people would make, but it's also one that suggests the Beltran we St. Louis Cardinals fans get back after the All-Star Break won't be the same one we saw in May and June--no matter what happens in the Home Run Derby.

Players do weird things within arbitrarily defined sample sizes. It could be that Beltran is adjusting to his declining speed by lofting more home runs than ever... or it could also be that he'll go back to hitting more doubles, to almost the same overall effect, by the end of the season. Only one thing is certain: Monday night, during the Home Run Derby, he won't get credit for any of those regressed-to-the-mean doubles.

More 2012 All-Star Game news and analysis from SB Nation St. Louis:

• Here's a full recap of the United States' dominant win over the World team at the 2012 Futures Game, which starred Cardinals prospects on both sides of the beating.
• The 2012 Home Run Derby lineup is filled with surprising contestants, not least the suddenly explosive Andrew McCutchen.

Home Run Derby 2012: SBN Studios Previews This Year's Contest

This year's Home Run Derby features a few interesting variables. For one, three of the NL's four participants—including Carlos Beltran of the St. Louis Cardinals— have never taken part in the Derby before. The other is that Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City is normally a terrible park for home runs. It allowed the second fewest in the majors in 2011, and though part of that can be attributed to the team that plays there, it is far from a hitter's park.

These topics are discussed in the new Home Run Derby preview video from Amy K. Nelson and SBN Studios. As far as the latter part goes, Nelson mentions that Derbies in the past that have taken place in pitcher's parks (San Francisco's AT&T Park and St. Louis' Busch Stadium, for instance) have actually featured some of the longest homers in Home Run Derby history.

Check out the full video here:

For updates on the derby, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

Home Run Derby 2012: Lineup, TV Schedule, Start Time And More

The 2012 Home Run Derby is set for Monday night, and representing the Cardinals in the competition this year is outfielder Carlos Beltran, who hit 20 homers during the first half of the regular season. Beltran will be joined on the NL side by Matt Kemp of the Dodgers, Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies and Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen.

National League
Matt Kemp (team captain)
Carlos Beltran
Carlos Gonzalez
Andrew McCutchen

Related: Home Run Derby 2012: Why Carlos Beltran Will Hit Fewer Home Runs After His Swings

American League
Robinson Cano (team captain)
Jose Bautista
Prince Fielder
Mark Trumbo

Cano won the derby in 2011, while Fielder took the crown in 2009. Both Kemp and Jose Bautista competed in 2011.

HR Derby Date & Time: Monday, July 9, 7:00 p.m. CT

TV: ESPN

For updates on the derby, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the Cardinals, head over to Viva El Birdos. And for complete All-Star break coverage, visit Baseball Nation.

Home Run Derby 2012: Why Carlos Beltran Will Hit Fewer Home Runs After His Swings

The St. Louis Cardinals will send Carlos Beltran to the 2012 Home Run Derby, but it's not a big problem. Regression to the mean is.