Morning State Sports Briefs: Fielder celebrates winning home run derby again

• 2012 All-Star Game

2012 All-Star Game

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KANSAS CITY - Prince Fielder has become the first player to win the All-Star Home Run Derby in both leagues. The Detroit Tigers’ slugger won last night’s Derby by smashing 12 homers in the final round, to seven for his American League teammate Jose Bautista of Toronto.

Fielder also won the 2009 Home Run Derby for the National League when he was with the Brewers. He belted a total of 28 homers last night in his fourth appearance in the 28th annual Derby – and he hit the longest shot of the night at 476-feet. Fielder hit eight straight homers before getting his first out in the final round. One of those blasts was disputed, after it hit the top of the fence in right center. Fielder’s 12 final-round homers tied a record set last year by Yankees’ second baseman Robinson Cano.

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Prince Fielder said he had no trouble adjusting to his new team after more than six seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. Fielder signed a nine-year, $214-million contract last winter with the Detroit Tigers – the same team where had father Cecil Fielder had starred a generation ago. Tonight, Prince Fielder will be in a familiar situation as a starting first baseman in the All-Star Game. But this time, he’ll play for the American League instead of the Nationals, and he’ll bat fifth in manager Ron Washington’s order. Fielder said his Tigers’ teammates made him feel welcome as soon as he arrived at spring training in Florida. He said it was different at first – but once the season began, he says everything becomes the same. Fielder is batting .299 with Detroit with 63 RBI’s. And after a slow start with his power, he hit three homers last week to give him 15 for the season. Last night, Fielder won his second All-Star Home Run Derby at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. His first was with the National League in 2009 when he still played for the Brewers. Milwaukee only has one player in tonight’s Mid-Summer Classic. Ryan Braun will start in the outfield, and bat third for the National League.

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Two Brewers’ prospects have received weekly honors in their respective minor leagues. Right-handed starter Wily Peralta of Nashville was named the pitcher-of-the-week in the Triple-“A” Pacific Coast League. And first baseman Hunter Morris of Double-“A” Huntsville is the position player-of-the-week in the Southern League. The 23-year-old Peralta is Milwaukee’s top prospect. And after he struggled in the first half, Peralta gave up just one unearned run in a pair of starts last week, covering 12-and-two-thirds scoreless innings. He gave up 11 hits and only one walk, while striking out a dozen batters. Peralta had lost six-of-seven starts between mid-May and mid-June. But since then, he’s won four-of-five – and he’s gone 36 innings without throwing a gopher ball. Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Morris went 15-for-29 at the plate last week for Huntsville. He was named the Southern League’s player-of-the-month for June, and he’s having an even hotter July. He drove in 10 runs last week with four homers, two triples, and a double. Morris is now second in the Southern League in batting.

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Brewers’ general manager Doug Melvin will be the main speaker at the Northwoods League’s All-Star banquet in Madison on July 23rd. It will be held the night before the league of summer college players holds its annual All-Star Game at Madison’s Warner Park. Rosters for the North and South division teams will be announced next Monday.

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The Class-“A” Midwest League is off tonight – standard procedure for the night of the Major League All-Star Game. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have opened the second half of the season at 9-9, in fifth place in the Western Division after beating Kane County last night 6-4. The Beloit Snappers are in sixth among the eight West teams, at 8-10. The Snappers were shut out by Burlington last night, 3-0. Burlington and Quad Cities are both tied for the second-half lead in the West at 11-7, a game up on Kane County and Clinton. Four teams lead the East at 10-8 – Bowling Green, Fort Wayne, Lansing, and South Bend.

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The U.S. Women’s Open got rave reviews from the organizers, players, and fans who showed up in Kohler. But the major was ignored by many TV viewers in Wisconsin – especially in the Milwaukee market, where the final round on Sunday received a Nielsen rating of two-and-a-half. A regular PGA men’s golf tournament – the Greenbrier Classic – got a higher rating of 2.6 on Sunday. Just under 24,000 Milwaukee area households saw the final round of that tournament. Breakfast at Wimbledon, the men’s final won by Roger Federer, had a slightly higher 3.1 rating with 28,000 Milwaukee area households looking on. The Sunday Brewers’ game at Houston was the ratings winner for Wisconsin sporting events. It had a 7.9 rating, with 71,000 households watching in the state’s largest metro.

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SCORES

In the Midwest League…

Burlington 3, Beloit 0

Wisconsin 6, Kane County 4

Cedar Rapids 4, Peoria 3

Quad Cities 10, Clinton 7

South Bend 10, Fort Wayne 2

Lake County 7, Bowling Green 6 in 11 innings

Great Lakes 8, Dayton 3

West Michigan 6, Lansing 1

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In the Northwoods League…

Eau Claire 8, Wisconsin Rapids 6 in Game-One

Wisconsin Rapids 11, Eau Claire 3 in Game-Two

La Crosse 5, Battle Creek 1

Wisconsin 6, Lakeshore 5

Green Bay 4, Madison 0

Willmar 21, Rochester 11

Mankato 4, Waterloo 2

Duluth 9, Saint Cloud 5

Alexandria 7, Thunder Bay 2

Tags: wisconsin sports, sports, proam