Sorry for the late timing of this post. Work and all that…
Yesterday was a huge day for home runs. Not only were there 42 home runs hit across the majors (nearly 3 a game!), but some of them were absolute bombs. Pablo Sandoval nearly hit one into McCovey Cove, Matt Holliday crushed a ninth-inning, game-tying home run off the Miller Park scoreboard, and Josh Willingham socked a pretty memorable grand slam in Citi Field that, due to umpire’s review, cause Adam Dunn to bowl over the catcher. Not often you see that kind of play at the plate on a home run.
Home Run of the Day: Casey McGehee, Milwaukee Brewers (Trot Time: 25.66* seconds) [video]
With all of those home runs – not to mention the two hit by Albert Pujols – the one I have to go with as the home run of the day is Casey McGehee’s walk-off home run with one-out in the bottom of the ninth after Trevor Hoffman had blown a three-run lead in the top half of the inning. The ball shot off his bat into the left-field stands and the place went nuts. It was great thing to experience. (*The plate wasn’t in view when Casey reached home, so the time is approximate. The swarm of teammates around home plate helped obscure his feet from the camera.)
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Slowest Trot: Jose Guillen, Kansas City Royals – 28.36 seconds [video]
Guillen actually hit two home runs in yesterday’s game, and both trots would be contenders for slowest of the day. It was his second blast, though, that puts him near the top of any list of slow trots on the year. There was nothing amazing about the home run that would lead you to expect such a memorably slow trip around the bases – he just jogged it out that way.
Quickest Trot: Adam Rosales, Oakland A’s – 15.86 seconds [video]
Michael Young (18.88), Gordon Beckham (~18.75), and Jason Heyward (18.35) all had super-quick trots that, on other days, would win by a mile, but they all had the bad luck to make their runs on the same day as Oakland’s Adam Rosales, who ran around the bases like he was trying to beat a throw home. In fact, his home run trot is virtually equal to Stephen Drew’s trot from Opening Day (15.84 seconds), when he hit the inside the park home run in Arizona. When I read this piece about Rosales’ trot, I thought for sure they were exaggerating, but they aren’t. The kid runs hard. I can’t wait to see if he keeps it up all season.
