The MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby has become the third worst curse in major sports, right behind the SI jinx and the dreaded Madden Curse.

Excel in it, and you are bound to have the worst second half of the season of your career. But the other alternative is equally weak and troubling.

Fail to hit any home runs and fall victim to badgering and embarrassment in front of fellow Big League stars that could ruin a man's confidence.

Good luck tonight, Hanley.

The Marlins shortstop is a long shot to win the Home Run Derby, which starts at 8 p.m., but stranger things have happened.

"I'm going to try as hard as I can, swing as hard as I can," Ramirez said.

Gulp!

That usually spells doom for a participant and his team in the second half. Ask Bobby Abreu and Josh Hamilton. Both players hit over 25 home runs during the event and didn't come close to that number when it really counted.

Or Han-Ram could put up the big sombrero, like Gary Sheffield did once in a Marlins uniform. Hitting no dingers means an early exit and conserves some of those roundtrippers for the start of the second half, not that ramirez has been tearing it up this season.

The only other Marlin to participate in the derby was Miguel Cabrera, who stroked 15 over the fence in Pittsburgh in 2006.

Cabrera is the odds on favorite this year, followed by Big Papi David Ortiz.

Ramirez is the underdog, but fans and Marlins' officials might secretly be hoping he underachieves tonight.