MLB Notebook | Home Run Derby ratings were out of the park

Monday night's Home Run Derby received a 6.0 cable rating on ESPN, which translate to 5,855,000 households and 8.25 million viewers. It was the network's No. 3 rating this year, topping only by Game 5 (6.5) and Game 4 (6.9) of the NBA's Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver).

It was down slightly from the 6.4 rating (6.2 million) households for last year's derby at Yankee Stadium.

This year's derby also got a 2.0 rating on ESPN Deportes, its highest for MLB since it began being rated in May 2008.

Notes

• Tampa Bay 3B Evan Longoria, a late All-Star scratch because of an infected right ring finger, was replaced in the AL lineup by Texas' Michael Young, who batted seventh.

• Multiple media outlets reported that P Pedro Martinez, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, has agreed to a $1 million, one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

• Commissioner Bud Selig says players on drug suspensions should not be eligible for minor-league rehabilitation assignments — like Manny Ramirez did — before their suspensions are complete, but that would have to be negotiated in the next working agreement, starting in 2012.

• Baseball writers voted down a proposal to form a committee for developing guidelines on evaluating players from the steroids era in Hall of Fame voting, by a 30-25 vote.

• Don't look for Selig to knock the asymmetrical outfield walls at the Mets' new Citi Field. "I think it's great," he said. "I don't want to go back to where we were in the '60s and '70s, when you sat in those bowls, and I used to joke that if you had too much to drink the night before and woke up the next day, it would take you a half-hour to figure out if you were in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, on and on. They all looked the same and felt the same, and they were all lousy."

• The Angels will host next year's All-Star Game, and the Diamondbacks are 2011 hosts. No announcement yet on 2012, but the Royals appear to be the favorites.