Guess what? There were Major League Baseball games played in cities other than Seattle and Detroit last night. Who knew, right? And, surprisingly, there were even home runs hit in a few of them. Crazy, crazy stuff.
Home Run of the Day: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers (Trot Time: 22.9 seconds) [video]
There were actually a couple of really interesting home runs hit yesterday: Adrian Gonzalez hit a walkoff grand slam to lead the Padres over the Mets, and Milwaukee pitcher Yovani Gallardo socked the sixth home run of his career to give the Brewers their first run of the game as they went on to win 7-4. But I can’t in good conscience talk about something other than Armando Galarraga‘s 28-out perfect game up here.
Cabrera’s home run came in the second, when thoughts of a perfect game were in no one’s mind. And even though it proved mostly pointless (the Tigers scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth), it can’t be ignored. That solo shot gave Galarraga a lead to work with for most of the game. With the pressure of a scoreless knot in the sixth or seventh innings, the game may have turned out rather differently. Sadly, the game ended up being memorable for the most dubious of reasons imaginable, but that doesn’t take anything away from Cabrera’s home run.
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Slowest Trot: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox – 26.66 seconds [video]
There were actually three home run trots that timed in at over 26 seconds last night: Adrian Gonzalez‘s walkoff grand slam (26.25 seconds, aided immensely by his slow, hunched walk into the crowd of his teammates around the plate), Carlos Lee‘s big blast (26.35 seconds), and Papi’s go-ahead shot.
Quickest Trot: Matt Treanor, Texas Rangers – 18.48 seconds [video]
Treanor really flew around the bases, especially for a catcher, after his home run, his third of the year. Maybe it’s from all those wind sprints he does on the beach with his wife. The next fastest trot of the day belonged to Minnesota’s Michael Cuddyer, who ran his trot out in 20.1 seconds.
