It' been an amazing couple of days at Chase Field and Fan Fest. Here are some of my thoughts.

The Futures Game is all its cracked up to be and more. I intend to do two of my regular RotoWire feature articles on the prospects I saw at the game. One on hitters, one on pitchers. They will begin next week. That's why there won't be any Futures Game information in this particular blog.

If you have children, Fan Fest is not to be missed. If the All Star game is anywhere near your home and you have kids, it's a great location for a family outing. Plan on more than one day. There are numerous interactive and challenging, but educational features to keep everyone in the family active for hours. They even have a display on how to grow quality grass in your yard.

I was surprised at how many people showed up just to see the All Star workouts three hours before the Home Run Hitting contest. The gates opened at 2PM Phoenix time and half the stadium was packed. People moved down front by the railings to get a better look at the players. The National League wore black, the American League red. The entire event is called All Star Workout Day and not Home Run Derby. But it's really all about Home Run Derby.

At the stroke of 2PM Matt Holliday took his two kids and played catch with them out in left field. The two small kids were really good. They could catch and throw far beyond what looked to be their age. No, don't draft them yet in your keeper league.

Prince Fielder has the cutest kids you'd ever want to see. One of them has this huge crop of gorgeous hair that was the buzz of the park. It's really nice to see the players and their families enjoying themselves.

The players took batting practice in groups, just as in the regular season. They didn't get many swings in the cage. The AL hit a ton more home runs than the NL during BP. But overall, there weren't as many BP homers as one would expect. Lance Berkman hit some long, long bombs.

Ron Washington threw fantastic batting practice. Almost every pitch was hittable. Another great BP pitcher was Manny Acta. Then he went out and threw in the Home Run Derby. I have no idea how he did it, but I guarantee his arm is sore today. He's one huckuva good BP pitcher.

When the National League took BP, the announcer introduced each hitter as he came into the cage. That didn't happen for the American League hitters. Maybe he just forgot to do it. Maybe it's because it was a National League park.

Every time Price Fielder came back to the cage during BP he got booed. The Phoenix fans wanted to see Justin Upton and not Rickie Weeks in the Derby. Weeks got booed a bit in BP as well. But not as soundly as Fielder.

The scoreboard images of every player were 3 dimensional. Way cool! I've not seen that before at Chase Field and hope they keep that feature.

Max Avila has some real pop in his bat and his BP surprised me. Lots of loft on his ball with a solid swing. I didn't realize he had as much raw power as I saw.

Howie Kendrick and Carlos Quentin both put on awesome displays during BP. They both showed how strong and powerful they can be when the pressure is off. Quentin in particular.

The teams were supposed to take infield. That was a joke. Maybe one or two balls hit to the AL infielders. NL didn't take many grounders at all. Basically, it was just like the regular season with guys hanging around in groups buzzing while they waited for their turn in the cage.

The Diamondbacks didn't raise the price on concessions. Everything was priced very fairly. They retained their "value pricing" on every type of food item. Also good for the families.

Remember when you were a kid and you counted the different state license plates you saw on a road trip? Well, the folks next to me were counting different team uniforms. They saw at least one from every major league team. It was great. There were fans from every team wearing their team colors. Very baseball and very colorful. This was for the fans and it didn't seem as "corporate" as other major events. That's come tonight at the ASG.

Even before the Derby, fans were shouting "Justin... Upton" constantly. They really wanted him in the Derby and they were more angry than I had imagined. Especially when Rickie was Weak.

The Derby itself was electric. Especially with the back stories of Jose Cano throwing to his son and Cano vs. AGon for the trophy. It was exciting and great theater. The longest homer went 474 feet, hit by Fielder. Cano hit most of the other long ones, including one that went 472 feet. Lots of splash downs in the pool. I don't know if they showed it on the TV feed, but the women in the pool were really gorgeous. Primed and ready for their moment of fame. The crowd loved it when their pictures went on the big screen.

The Derby contestants looked exhausted by the second round. Not only do they swing in the contest, they swing in the clubhouse cage to stay hot. And regardless of what is said, there is pressure. Especially on Weeks.

Joey Bats looked nervous. Bautista flamed out, but he was the favorite in the group I sat with. Believe me, lots of money was bet in the stands on the Derby.

Between hitters MLB and the Diamondbacks came up with some contests and promotions that rewarded the winners with All Star Game tickets. Frankly, they were fun to watch and it made the Derby move along quickly.

A seat in the Front Row restaurant in left field cost $100 and dinner was included. It was a great deal, but the seats weren't reserved. First come, first served.

The Diamondbacks posted tweets from fans on the scoreboard. They really want to be as interactive as possible.

I have no idea the name of the band that played at the beginning of the Derby. I thought it was a distraction.

Imagine being Robbie Cano in the last round. Gonzalez is your Red Sox rival who just lit up the night with bombs and you have to beat that. He did and it was great. Like em, love em, hate em or whatever, what AGon and Cano did last night was special.

Tonight's the All Star Game. I'll be there. If I'm still sane, I'll share my thoughts tomorrow.

My profile on the Reds Zack Cozart should run tomorrow. I hope you'll give it a read. Then next week I'll begin two weeks of reflections on the players in the Futures Game.

You can now read my work (totally different than my RotoWire articles) on MLB.com every week. Just click on "other opinions" on the home page and look for my mug and name.

Follow me on Twitter @BerniePleskoff.

Have a great second half. Keep pulling for your team. Keep making the right moves and don't give up on baseball in September. Your team might surprise you down the stretch.