Home Run of the Day: Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers (Trot Time: 23.42 seconds) [video]
Albert Pujols [video], Mark Reynolds [video], and Mike Stanton [video] all hit ridiculously huge home runs last night, reminding us of what we miss the most from the late-90s power surge. Florida’s Donnie Murphy hit a walkoff blast to rightfield for the Marlins, but it’s Nelson Cruz‘s go-ahead home run in the top of the 14th that gets the Home Run of the Day. After a see-saw battle all game that even saw the Tigers screw up a game-winning situation in the 11th when Cruz deked Johnny Damon into believing he was fielding a ball that was nowhere near him, thus causing Damon to hold up at third rather than walk across the plate with the winnig run, it was Cruz’s 14th inning blast that ultimately resolved the game. Hitting a home run like that in the 14th inning of a game after having such a pivotal defensive play earlier in extra-innings, it’s impossible not to give him the Home Run of the Day.
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Slowest Trot: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers #2 – 27.73 seconds [video]
By now, twenty-four home runs into the season, I’ve learned not to expect anything but slow-to-super-slow home runs from Migueal Cabrera. The only question is, how slow will it be today? Cabrera’s first home run wasn’t too bad, clocking in at 24.87 seconds. But his second one, a huge fly to leftfield, was just too much. Jim Thome (25.62 seconds) and Aramis Ramirez (25.14 seconds) had the next slowest trots.
Quickest Trot: Skip Schumaker, St. Louis Cardinals – 18.2 seconds [video]
The second home run in a back-to-back barrage, and the third of the inning, Schumaker gives us a very respectable Quickest Trot time at 18.2 seconds. The most impressive speedy trot of the night, though, belonged to Donnie Murphy, who hit the ninth inning walkoff blast in Florida. As with most walkoffs, Murphy was greeted at home plate by his teammates, hovering over the plate itself. But even with that mob to get through, Murphy still touched plate only 18.57 seconds after making contact [video]. That number might be a tiny bit off because it’s generally pretty hard to tell when a foot lands in a mob, but the plate was mostly clear in this case, so it should be pretty close.
