From the surface the 2010 Home Run Derby looked as plain as the incessant suburban sprawl surrounding Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The lineup was as unspectacular as the list of guests appearing on “Last Call with Carson Daily.” And like I do every time I see the first few frames of “Last Call,” I asked myself why?

Why was Chris Young in a home run hitting contest? Why did Bobby Valentine call Big Papi “Jose Ortiz?” Why did Hanley Ramirez steal Aqua Man’s shoes? Why is Corey Hart’s beard a blonde replica of Abraham Lincoln’s? And why doesn’t someone let Carson use an actual studio? Are times that bad?

I’ll admit it, I was ready to dump on the derby. I had already decided it was baseball’s slam-dunk contest – going on for far too long and involving too few stars.

But all of a sudden David Ortiz dug into the box, spit on his batting gloves, clapped his hands, waved his magic 38-ounce wand, and single-handedly stole the show.

Big Papi was his gregarious self – beaming a broad smile, swinging from his heals, and fraternizing with everyone within an arm’s reach of him or any of his 32 homers. His adorable son was cheering him on from first-base line. Ortiz even made Ramirez – a ballplayer whose talents are obscured by a small market and a bad reputation – come across as affable if not innocent.

Ramirez served as the necessary salve in a competition that desperately needs at least two competitors at the top of their game. So he clicked his teal slippers, played the antagonist, and put on a laser show of his own.

But even when it was about Ramirez, it was about Big Papi.

Oritz vacillated between being the powerful slugger with laser focus, then the father figure to his fellow countrymen, wiping Ramirez’s sweaty brow with a towel, and cooling him down with some mid-round Gatorade. The two spoke after about the bond that grew between them during Ramirez’s time in the Red Sox organization.

Ortiz even did what no one saw coming – teaming a Red Sox up with a Yankee.

With Ortiz’s usual pitcher, Ino Guerrero, in the Dominican Republic for the All-Star break, Yankees’ bench coach Tony Pena was Papi’s hand-picked hurler on Monday. The move paid dividends as Papi was in a groove all night.

Once Ramirez grounded his last out softly through the left side, and the trophy belonged to Ortiz, Big Papi added another serving of human drama, dedicating the trophy to his friend, Jose Lima, the former Dominican player who recently died at the age of 37.

The night wasn’t without its flaws. At more than 2 ½ hours long the derby could use a nip here and tuck there. Miguel Cabrera and Will Ferrell both should probably reconsider the man-perm, and ESPN still hasn’t found away to combine its two greatest broadcasting tools – the ultra-slow-motion cam and Erin Andrews.

But for one balmy night in Southern California, Ortiz gave the Home Run Derby a much-needed facelift.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC