Home Run of the Day: Johnny Damon, Detroit Tigers (Trot Time: 21.58 seconds) [video]
I’m very tempted to put Yovani Gallardo’s solo shot against the Padres here. After all, he is the first pitcher to go yard this year, and it did end the Brewers 23 inning scoreless streak. But I can’t justify it over Johnny Damon’s walkoff blast over the Angels yesterday. Plus, he had a pretty nice little jump into his crowd of teammates at home plate.
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Slowest Trot: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox #2 – 28.95 seconds [video]
Hanley Ramirez and Bengie Molina both hit home runs yesterday, and both took over 26 seconds to round the bases. On pretty much any day, either time would be good for Slowest Trot of the day. On Saturday, though, they were only good for third and fourth slowest – that’s because Boston’s Big Papi went deep twice. His first trot, clocking in at 27.29 seconds, was slow enough to break the top ten. His second was even slower, and is second only to the time Toronto’s Alex Gonzalez missed first base and had to go back and tag it. If anyone is going to get a 30-second trot this year, it’s almost definitely going to be David Ortiz. I’m legitimately excited for each of Papi’s home runs now.
Quickest Trot: Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves – 18.4 seconds [video]
I’m equally as excited for each of Heyward’s home runs, but for the exact opposite reason: I want to see just how fast he can get around those bases. He’s not exactly Adam Rosales in his home run trots, but the Heymaker is no slouch. Of his eight home runs this season, only one was over 19.2 seconds. For a kid as young and hyped as he is, it’s pretty cool to see.
