Maybe this is my fault for constantly mentioning the small number of home runs during the week, but big league batters broke out of a mini-slump last night to crush 40 home runs across the league. Fun times for the batters and for the fans, not so fun times for the guy trying to clock all the home run trot times…
Home Run of the Day: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox #2 (Trot Time: 29.42 seconds) [video]
Look at that trot time. Obviously Big Papi had the slowest trot of the day (it’s actually the slowest trot of the year), but how could I not feature a near-30 second trot as Home Run of the Day? Even better, this was Papi’s second home run of the day, and his first was almost as long. It clocked in at 29.07 seconds (video). The funny thing is, I actually thought he was running kind of fast on that run. I guess when you combine his innate slowness and the way he shuffles his feet as he approaches each base, it adds up to something real slow (and real special).
I’m telling you, one of these days he’s going to break the 30-second barrier. I can feel it.
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Slowest Trot: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox #2 – 29.42 seconds [video]
For a day where no one was particularly speedy (save for one), it’s surprising to see that, outside of Ortiz, no one was all that slow either. Other than the two 29-second trots by the big Boston slugger, the slowest home run trot of the day belonged to Albert Pujols, who clocked in at 25.06 seconds (video). After Pujols, we find Hideki Matsui, Nate McLouth, and Max Ramirez in the 24-second range. Alex Rodriguez‘s go-ahead grand slam timed in at a decent 23.59 seconds.
Quickest Trot: Marlon Byrd, Chicago Cubs – 18.24 seconds [video]
God bless Marlon Byrd. All the guy does is hit big home runs and run hard. On a night where there were forty different home runs hit by 39 different batters, only three of them managed to run their shots out in under 20 seconds. Chris Coghlan (19.97 seconds) and Raul Ibanez (19.68 seconds) did well enough, but I much prefer an 18-second trot. Now if only Marlon would learn to run through the plate instead of stutter-stepping at the end – we might see a few 17-second trots from him.
