Angels' Mike Trout is MVP Again as AL Wins All-Star Game 6-3

Pretty sweet.

At the O.C. Register:

CINCINNATI — The All-Star Game is designed to be so much of a spectacle that the baseball part of it is accordingly overlooked. There are hours of pregame festivities, dozens of celebrities introduced, before the annual showcase ever begins.

Angels center fielder Mike Trout minimized all of that with the second swing of Tuesday’s game, when he took a 94-mph fastball from National League starter Zack Greinke to the opposite field, just over the outfield wall for a leadoff home run.

“Driving balls like that is pretty impressive,” Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said. “He’s the best, in my opinion.”

Kershaw was the loser in the American League’s 6-3 victory over the National League in the 86th iteration of the All-Star Game. Afterward, Trout was named the game’s MVP for the second consecutive season.

No major leaguer ever had been so honored.

It was Trout’s fourth All-Star appearance. In the first at-bat of his first one, he singled. In the first at-bat of his second one, he doubled, and in his third one, he tripled. Tuesday’s homer completed the thoroughly unusual feat, never before matched — never before thought of, probably.

Before the game, Angels teammate Albert Pujols joked with him: “Go up there first-pitch swinging and hit it opposite field.”

Trout said he would, so he kind of called his shot. But, as Pujols said, “he actually waited until five pitches in.”

Also at Deadspin, "Mike Trout, American League Win All-Star Game 6-3."

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.