Home Run of the Day: Jim Thome, Minnesota Twins #2 (Trot Time: 23.17 seconds) [video]
I’m not sure we all appreciate the career of Jim Thome as much as we should. Sure, we recognize that’s he’s been a home run mashing machine for years and that the Cleveland and Philadelphia fan bases love the guy, but I’d bet the typical baseball fan doesn’t realize just how great or prolific the guy has been. Before yesterday’s game, Thome sat 11th all-time with 572 career home runs, only one short of the great Harmon Killebrew (who happens to be Thome’s most similar player). With his two home run day – the 45th of his career – Thome leap-frogged Killebrew into sole possession of 10th place. With the way Ken Griffey, Jr.’s career ended this year, it’s a pleasure to be able to see Thome continue to do his thing.
(Click “Read More” to continue reading.)
Slowest Trot: Aubrey Huff, San Francisco Giants – 26.01 seconds [video]
Hey, look at that! Aubrey Huff is the slowest trotter of the day two days in a row. That doesn’t happen too often. Though I doubt Huff himself or Giants fans in general are complaining too much about it. After all, to be the slowest trotter of the day on consecutive days, you have to hit home runs on consecutive days. Tough to complain when that’s happening. Baltimore’s Jake Fox hit a home run against the Red Sox yesterday, but it was originally called a double. So although the MASN guys called it the “longest home run trot of the season”, it wasn’t. A reviewed trot like that does not get counted in the Tater Trot Tracker stats.
Quickest Trot: Matthew Joyce, Tampa Bay Rays – 18.93* seconds [video]
A pinch-hit grand slam as your first home run of the season? Very nice. A pinch-hit grand slam that comes in as the third fastest grand slam trot of the year? Even better. That’s what we saw from Tampa’s Matt Joyce last night, so it was a pretty memorable game for him. The trot time might be a little off, as I was stuck with Fox’s broadcast of the game, and they gave us a weird angle of the trot. I feel pretty confident about the time, though. Jim Edmonds (19.22 seconds) and Jason LaRue (19.58 seconds) were the only other sub-20 second trots of the day.
