It was a slow day across the big leagues on Thursday, with only twelve home runs hit all told. This is great because it gives us a chance to highlight two other, non-MLB home runs.
First:
That was Manny Ramirez's fourth home run on his Taiwan adventure this season. "See you later, baby! Show me the money!" the Taiwanese announcer yells out, a bit excited for Manny. Ramirez's trot clocks in at 26.18 seconds, which is, surprisingly, his quickest trot so far in Taiwan. (Trot number one was 28.45 seconds, number two was 27.55 seconds, and number three was an amazing 29.83 seconds.) You can follow along with Manny's adventures at MannyDoesTaiwan.com.
And second:
Triple-A pitcher Blake Johnson, of the Albuquerque Isotopes, hit an inside-the-park home run on Tuesday. Normally, a pitcher hitting a home run is big news for the Tracker. As is an inside-the-park home run. I'm roughly 99.9% certain that a pitcher hitting an inside-the-park home run is a first in the Tater Trot Tracker era. It apparently wasn't all that hard, though. Johnson came in standing up at home plate in 16.2 seconds. That's very fast for a typical home run, but very much on the slow side for an inside-the-parker. But, still! A pitcher inside-the-parker!!
Home Run of the Day: Domonic Brown, Philadelphia Phillies – 21.33 seconds [video]
An absolute laser out of the park from Brown.
Slowest Trot: Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers – 23.62 seconds [video]
This "slow" trot from Beltre made one pooch happy.
Quickest Trot: Brett Lawrie, Toronto Blue Jays – 18.32 seconds [video]
A completely effortless quick trot. I really hope Lawrie lets it all out on a trot sometime in the near future. He could shoot right to the top of the quickest trots lists.
All of Today's Trots Adrian Beltre....23.62 Scott Hairston...23.44 Ryan Howard......23.12 Tyler Flowers....22.84 Nate McLouth.....22.72 Albert Pujols....22.54 Dan Uggla........21.51 Carlos Pena......21.4 Domonic Brown....21.33 Justin Ruggiano..20.38 Jason Castro.....19.21 Brett Lawrie.....18.32
Click here for the ongoing 2013 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.
