Matt Holliday, who said "I just hope to hit one," went well beyond that, finishing with 13, including a 475-foot blast. Brad Mangin/SI
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Monday's Derby had one other twist to work these hitters into knots. The 22nd incarnation of the Home Run Derby was being held at AT&T Park. It's a beautiful ballpark, maybe the prettiest in baseball. But it's not made for home runs despite the famous hitter who resides in left field here (a guy by the name of Barry Bonds). The winds off San Francisco Bay, and those coming in off McCovey Cove over the 25-foot wall in right field, are home run eaters. The gaps in left center (404 feet) and in right center (421 feet, with an imposing 21-foot brick wall) are particularly sadistic. Bonds has dumped a lot of homers into McCovey Cove. Even with served-up fastballs Sunday night, nobody plunked one fair into the Cove. "The only bigger park," former Cub Mark Grace once told me, "is Yellowstone."

All of it made for an interesting time, more so than most of these Derbies, in China Basin. Bonds, citing his sore legs and the desire to simply take a break, declined to play. But the genial Howard was there, as was the Twins' Justin Morneau, the reigning American League MVP. National League home run leader Prince Fielder of the Brewers (who has 29 real homers this season) showed up, as did Tigers right fielder Magglio Ordonez (who had only two homers Monday, but who's hitting .367 in the real world, best in baseball).

Pujols, Holliday, the Blue Jays' Alex Rios and Guerrero all made it to the second round, and from there Rios and Vlad went to the finals. By the time the three rounds were finished, they both looked plenty spent. The pressure of wanting to do well in front of all those people -- or at least not look too foolish -- is draining, sure, but these players take a lot of swings, too, way more than in any ordinary batting practice. Even on this nippy night, these guys were all lathered up by the finale. "I slept in a little bit later," Guerrero said, "to rest up for this."

In the end, Guerrero won the 2007 Home Run Derby, cranking out 17 homers in more than 40 swings, hitting one a gaudy 503 feet over the bleachers in left-center. He was happy about his win, too, as were the 18 family members and friends he brought up to the Bay Area. "It's absolutely worth it, now that I've won," Guerrero said.

Yeah, we might like to riff on this pre-exhibition exhibition that has nothing to do with honest-to-goodness practical baseball skills. Punking on the Derby has never been too hard. But Guerrero and the other seven guys taking their best swings Monday night, for all their smiles and nonchalance, cared about it. You could tell. They actually cared.