Normally it’s pretty much impossible to consider a day in which your Hall of Fame closer gives up a game-tying home run in the ninth inning (for the second day in a row, and fourth blown save of the young year) as a good day home run-wise, but then again it’s not everyday that Adam Rosales hits a home run.
I’d also like to point out that, in the Minnesota Twins game yesterday, Jim Thome connected for the 568th home run of his career, while Luke Hughes, in his first career at-bat, hit the first home run of his career. I wonder if there’s ever been a larger discrepancy between between the guy hitting his first homer and the Hall of Famer hitting his x00th.
Home Run of the Day: Kelly Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks (Trot Time: 20.86 seconds) [video]
I am actively avoiding putting Ryan Doumit or Andrew McCutchen or any other Pittsburgh Pirate here because I’m just sick of it. Instead, Kelly Johnson gets the honor. His solo home run in the top of the 10th inning (his 8th of the year) put the Diamondbacks ahead for good at 12-11. There was no shortage of offense in the desert yesterday.
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Slowest Trot: Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels – 25.75 seconds [video]
Hunter’s never struck me as the kind of guy who likes to watch his home runs fly, but this is a pretty terrible trot time. At the very least, we can say that Torii moves his legs pretty slow as he circles the bases. Jorge Cantu places second on the day with a 25.12 second trot. Adam Dunn’s trot clocked in at a respectable 23.21.
Quickest Trot: Adam Rosales, Oakland Athletics – 15.87 seconds [video]
I have to admit, I got pretty excited when I saw that Rosales hit a home run yesterday. He did not disappoint. You may remember Rosales from his April 11 “trot”, where he lapped the bases in 15.86 seconds. That trot is still the fastest non-inside-the-park home run of the year (and is actually faster than Aubrey Huff’s inside-ther-parker). And his speedy trots are no new thing – the first home run of this career, hit last year, went much the same way (here’s the video – that’s a blistering 15.53 seconds, by the way). To see that he kept it up yesterday for his second shot of the year is fantastic. Let’s hope for a few more along the way.
