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Detroit Tigers links: the night the Home Run Derby was saved

The Home Run Derby was incredible.

By Patrick Whelan
David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

With both a three-game losing streak and a nine-game deficit heading into the All-Star break, the feel around the Detroit area was understandably grim. And the bad news continued today. Lynn Henning shines a bright light on the chronic bullpen issues that have plagued the Dave Dombrowski era. Dombrowski has made a lot of good moves, but the bullpen has always been a bit of an adventure. Meanwhile, David Price's name is coming up more and more in trade rumors. And Steve Schrader was nice enough to inform the team that they are probably going to have to win at a .600 clip in the second half to make the playoffs.

But just because the Tigers are struggling doesn't mean you can't still enjoy the MLB. And last night was the night the Home Run Derby was saved. The new format made for a considerably more exciting competition. The time limit replacing the out count allowed players to get into grooves and blast balls all over the park in quick succession. Joc Pederson put on a show. He would go from shanking pitches to hitting 5 DEEP bombs in a row.  And despite putting up 14 in the final round, he was topped by Todd Frazier, who had not one, but TWO walk off home runs. Lets see some highlights.

The Mayor snagged a home run!

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Prince being Prince.

Toddfather walk off!

Kris Bryant's dad got a bit distracted.

Joc Pederson obliterating a baseball

The atmosphere in Cincinati was electric.

And this might not be an overstatement.

The Worst Called Ball of the First Half - FanGraphs Baseball, Jeff Sullivan
It was against JD. Not our fault that Nathan Evoldi can't hit his spots.

MLB All-Star Game: The Kids Are Taking Over Baseball - WSJ, Brian Costa
Major League Baseball is skewing younger. As Tuesday’s All-Star Game will show, many of today’s stars are 25 and younger—a result, for better or worse, of the growth of travel baseball at the youth level.

The 30: Midseason Stock Report - Grantland, Jonah Keri
A rundown of all 30 teams by Jonah Keri. More interesting for the view of the league than for the Tigers portion (BUY OR SELL).

Andrew McCutchen does his best Tim Kurkjian impression - ESPN Video
Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen does his best impression of ESPN Baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian. It was pretty impressive.

Tigers' fresh talent shows promise at Connecticut - Detroit News, Lynn Henning
The Single A Connecticut Tigers are three weeks so small sample size applies, but the team has a number of stand out performances so far.

MLB trade rumors: Padres shopping James Shields, could Tigers be interested? - Bless You Boys, Rob Rogacki
Shields has three more years left on the $75 million contract he signed with San Diego last offseason.

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