Tampa Bay Rays slugger Junior Caminero announced Wednesday he will take part in the Home Run Derby on Monday in Atlanta, then learned hours later he will start at third base for the AL squad in the All-Star Game the following night.In between, Caminero belted his 22nd homer of the season in the seventh inning of a 7-3 win in Detroit.Caminero, who turned 22 on July 5, leads all American League third basemen in homers during a breakout season. He is hitting .254 with 58 RBIs for the Rays, who moved within four games of first-place Toronto in the AL…

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LOS ANGELES — In March 2008, two months before the shaggy-haired, clean-shaven, 20-year-old phenom recorded the first of his 3,000+ career strikeouts, Clayton Kershaw had already left a legendary broadcaster wonderstruck. Wearing the No. 96 with no name on the back in a spring training game, the promising prospect released a mesmerizing breaking ball that appeared to drop from the sky before buckling the knees of Sean Casey and striking out the 12-year MLB veteran. Vin Scully dubbed the pitch “Public Enemy No. 1.” That curveball, along with a biting slider and precise fastball, would eventually make Kershaw the left-hander of…

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