After Sunday’s rampage of homers, the 27 home runs hit on Monday seem like a tame amount. The biggest days belonged to two players many assumed were dead for the season: Scott Rolen and Andruw Jones hit two apiece. Who knows how many they’ll hit the rest of the way, but, for one day, they were great.
Home Run of the Day: Mark Teahen, Chicago White Sox (Trot Time: 19.87 seconds) [video]
Nice hit by Teahen to tie the game up in the top of the 9th inning for the visiting White Sox. They would go on to win it in the 11th. It’s a shame, then, that all I can think about when I watch that highlight of it (notice the “video” link – sweet, huh?) is just how terrible Hawk Harrelson’s home run call is. And it’s even worse when you watch three highlights in a row with him calling it. I understand that it’s his thing, and that White Sox fans have some kind of relationship with the guy, but, for someone who never really had to listen to him before, it can be excruciating. I wonder what President Obama thinks of the guy, being a White Sox fan and all…
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Slowest Trot: Bengie Molina, San Francisco Giants – 27.95 seconds [video]
Molina is in a virtual tie with Jose Guillen (27.89 seconds) for slowest home run of the day. I suppose it’s understandable for Molina to show up here (though he did trot a little slower around the bases than he could have), but Guillen still surprises me. Looking at Sunday and Monday together, Guillen might be the early favorite for biggest hot dog of the year…
Quickest Trot: Will Venable, San Diego Padres – 18.62 seconds [video]
It should really be noted just how close Scott Rolen came to taking the crown today. With his two home runs on the day, Rolen rounded the bases in 18.75 and 18.82 seconds. The first homer bounced off the top of the wall and the centerfielder played it on the off-chance that it was still in play, so I thought that that may be why his first trot was so quick. But the second home run was a no-doubter into the leftfield bleachers, and he had nearly identical times. Pretty surprising. Venable’s time may even be a step quicker than I show here. It was hard to judge exactly where home plate was from the footage, so I had to use my best judgement. It’s possible, though, that the plate was a step earlier than I recorded. Either way, it’s an enviable time.
