Home Run of the Day: Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers (Trot Time: 24.76 seconds) [video]
Brad Penny hit a grand slam in the Cardinals game yesterday, which is pretty awesome. But since we’ll be talking about him below, I thought we’d go with Carlos Gomez‘s three-run shot and ridiculous strut in a 15-0 game as the Home Run of the Day. Seriously, watch the video. He crushes that ball to left-field, drops the bat with a flourish, and takes about three steps with an “I just killed you”-attitude that is completely idiotic when your team is down 15 runs.
Thankfully, Gomez seemed to realize the amateur nature of his trot after the game, saying “If they’re going to do something tomorrow, I’m going to take it like a man because I know I did bad.”
One of the reasons I started the Tater Trot Tracker, besides just having a little fun, was to get a feel for what a true showboating home run is like. We all feel like they happen all the time (like everytime Alex Rodriguez or David Ortiz hits one, for example), but that’s not exactly true. One certainly happened last night in Minnesota, though.
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Slowest Trot: Brad Penny, St. Louis Cardinals – 26.11 seconds [video]
So the slowest home run trot of the day belongs to a less-than-svelte pitcher who belted a grand slam? I think I can believe that. But how will this affect our view on pitchers hitting? On the one hand, Penny drove in four runs with one swing of the bat. On the other, he was taken out of the game while warming up the next inning. Did he injure himself on the swing? the trot? the curtain call? Surprisingly, the next slowest trot belonged to Jayson Werth at 24.78 seconds, just a nick slower than the Carlos Gomez showboat. I didn’t get any messages on Twitter talking about Werth’s lack of speed, though…
Quickest Trot: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds – 18.52 seconds [video]
There was only one sub-20 second trot yesterday and, unsurprisingly, it belonged to a Cincinnati Red. They just breed quick trotters down there or something.
