Published by
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
By Greg Bishop SEATTLE – The barrage started near the end of the quarterfinals, as Julio Rodriguez strode to the plate at his T-Mobile Park home office and stepped into the batter’s box. The crowd considered the setting—homegrown Mariners superstar, Home Run Derby participant, one year after the same event propelled him toward superstardom but amid an iffy second season, at least relative to his first. Oh, how that setting amplified the stakes. His “home” version of the Home Run Derby cut both ways, lending familiarity and adding pressure, too. The crowd rose, unsurely at first, in pockets of …