Jay Bruce named All-Star game MVP

Dragons' Bruce named MVP of All-Star Game

By Steve Batterson

Quad City Times

DAVENPORT, Iowa | The youngest player in the 42nd Midwest League baseball All-Star Game walked away with the biggest prize.

Dayton outfielder Jay Bruce, just 19 years old, finished off the Eastern Division's 7-1 win with a two-run homer in the ninth inning Tuesday night, punctuating his three-hit performance.

"I didn't come here looking to win anything. All I wanted to do was play well and help my team win," said Bruce, the Reds' first-round choice in the 2005 draft. Bruce is the first Dragons' player to win the annual Star of Stars Award presented to the game's most valuable player.

Bruce also singled, doubled and stole a pair of bases to complement the East team's dominant pitching performance in front of a crowd of 4,638 at John O'Donnell Stadium.

"This was definitely the type of game that meant a lot. Whenever you come out and play beside and against the best of the best in the league, you want to put your best game out there, too," Bruce said. "This is the type of game that can give me a lot of confidence heading into the second half."

Quad-Cities outfielder Colby Rasmus was the only West player to manage two hits, and his two-out single in the third inning was the last of the five hits the West managed against a group of 11 East pitchers.

"They had some good arms, and we knew that coming in," Rasmus said. "Their pitchers kept us off balance."

The East took a 1-0 lead in the top of first on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Baisley of Kane County.

Back-to-back doubles by Rasmus and Quad-Cities teammate Randy Roth made it 1-1 in the bottom of the first.

"That was pretty cool. It was just like playing any other game with Randy knocking me in,'' Rasmus said.

Bruce went to work in the third, collecting the first of his two hits with a one-out single.

He stole second, then scored what proved to be the game-winning run when Cory Patton of Lansing stroked a two-out single to right off the Swing's Jaime Garcia.

A pair of Fort Wayne batters, Kyle Blanks and Daryl Jones, followed with RBI singles to give the East a 4-1 lead that went unchallenged.

Garcia was tagged with the loss, giving up five hits and three runs in one inning, although he did record three of the 14 strikeouts recorded by the 16 pitchers Peoria manager Jody Davis managed to squeeze into the game.

Bruce opened the seventh with a double, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Dayton's Craig Tatum.

Two innings later, he left no doubt, taking a pitch from the Swing's Danny Borne over the fence in left.

"At the beginning of the year, I was struggling a bit against lefties, but tonight I showed what I could do,'' Bruce said.

You can read this article at www.daytondailynews.com also

Bruce delivers for MWL Eastern All-Stars

Dragon wins 'Star of Stars' after being disappointed in Derby

By Jeff Wendland / Special to MLB.com

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Jay Bruce was a little disappointed with his showing in Tuesday's Midwest League All-Star Game Home Run Derby. He more than made up for it when the lights came on.

After hitting just one home run in the opening round and none in a six-swing tiebreaker, Bruce came back strong during the actual game. The Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds) slugger claimed the MWL Star of Stars honor with a two-run homer, a double and a single as the Eastern team defeated the West, 7-1, in front of 4,638 fans at John O'Donnell Stadium.

"I was a little nervous in the Home Run Derby and didn't do as well as I had hoped," Bruce said. "I think the problem was we were all talking about how many balls we were going to put in the (Mississippi) River beyond the right-field berm. I tried to kill the ball and needed to relax."

He relaxed once the game started, his one-out single in the third inning started a three-run East rally that broke a 1-1 tie.

His leadoff double in the seventh led to another run. Then he put the game on ice in the ninth by blasting a pitch from Swing of the Quad Cities left-hander Danny Borne well over the wall in right center.

"That was fun," Bruce said. "I struggled against lefties earlier in the year, so it means something to hit one against a left-hander here. I hadn't even thought about the star of the game award, but everyone was telling me it was mine."

Bruce finished the first half batting .294 with 24 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs and 46 RBIs. He said he enjoyed his trip to the Midsummer Classic.

"When they have a big crowd like that, it's a lot like our park in Dayton," Bruce said. "It was a great atmosphere. Winning the game is very important, I don't think you ever want to go into a game not thinking about winning."

The East grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on a leadoff double off the bat of Justin Upton (South Bend) and a one-out sacrifice fly by Jeff Baisley (Kane County).

The Western squad tied it in the bottom of the first on back-to-back doubles by Swing stars Colby Rasmus and Randy Roth. That was the last offense mounted by the West.

Eastern pitchers allowed a single to Ron Garth (Wisconsin) and an infield hit to Rasmus in the third and then retired 18 of the final 20 hitters they faced.

South Bend pitcher Vincent Bongiovanni was named the Bank of America Outstanding Pitcher Award winner, working a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

"I never even knew they were naming an award to the pitchers," Bongiovanni said. "In an All-Star Game that's such a crapshoot when the pitchers are throwing no more than an inning. I just went out and did what I could and let it all hang out for an inning."

Swing left-hander Jaime Garcia was the game's losing pitcher, allowing three runs on five hits in the third. Garcia was hurt by an apparent missed call at first base on an infield tapper that opened the floodgates in the inning.

Cory Patton (Lansing), Kyle Blanks (Fort Wayne) and Darryl Jones (Fort Wayne) had RBI hits for the East in the third.

The East added a run in the seventh on Bruce's double and a sacrifice fly by Dayton teammate Craig Tatum.

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