Gonzalez Is King for a Day

Luis Gonzalez is baseball’s best home run hitter, at least for today.

Gonzalez, who has crept up behind Barry Bonds in the race to break Mark McGwire’s record, beat Sammy Sosa, 6-2, in the finals Monday night to win the All-Star Home Run Derby.

“I was kind of in a fog, especially considering the guys I was going against the last couple of rounds,” Gonzalez said. “I was so nervous in my first home run derby. I just wanted to get past the first round, then the second round, I was thinking, ‘Geez.’ ”

Bonds was knocked out in the semifinals, and Alex Rodriguez didn’t even make it out of the first round at Safeco Field, which is known more as a pitcher’s park.

Bonds, whose 39 home runs for San Francisco set a record at the all-star break, hit the longest homer of the day--a 476-foot drive that a fan dropped out of the first row of the right-field upper deck. He also had a 472-foot shot among his seven in the first round.

Oakland’s Jason Giambi put on the best show, hitting a derby-record 14 in the first round before he was knocked out by Sosa in the semifinals, 8-6.

But Gonzalez showed that steady can succeed, too, hitting five homers in the first round, then beating Bonds in the semifinals, 5-3.

The Derby was somewhat lacking in drama. Unlike Baltimore’s Camden Yards, which had the right-field warehouse, and Boston’s Fenway Park, with its left-field Green Monster, Safeco has no internal landmarks, and no one came close to putting one out of the 2-year-old ballpark.

Seattle’s Bret Boone had only three homers and Colorado’s Todd Helton had two. Troy Glaus of the Angels had a rare homerless home run derby appearance.