I have to say, when I saw that there were only six games on the schedule yesterday, I was certain it’d be an easy day at the Tater Trot Tracker. And, for the most part, it was. Except for the Twins/Tigers and Phillies/Rockies games, which provided a total of 11 home runs just between the two of them. The other four games gave us 8 home runs total…
Home Run of the Day: Casper Wells, Detroit Tigers (Trot Time: 18.78 seconds) [video]
I fully expected to give the Home Run of the Day to either Gerald Laird, who ended the ridiculous Twins/Tigers game with a home run in the top of the 13th, or Chase Utley, who completed a Philadelphia 9-run seventh-inning with a grand slam that put the Phillies ahead for good. But Casper Wells tied the game up in the top of the ninth with an opposite field shot for his first career home run. That’s a pretty sweet spot to earn your first knock.
(The saddest part of the blast? The kid in right field who totally had the ball on the fly but dropped it, letting the ball fall to the field. The Twins cameras caught the kid, with glove over face, crying into his father’s stomach. And, since it was Wells’ first career blast, it’s not like they were going to throw the ball back up to him. Tough break, kid. Tough break.)
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Slowest Trot: Russell Branyan, Seattle Mariners – 28.11 seconds [video]
Adrian Beltre seemed to have this spot locked up for the second day in a row, with his 25.57 second trot against the Orioles last night (a hair over Brian McCann‘s 25.47 second trot), but then I saw that Russell Branyan had also gone yard. No competition.
Quickest Trot: Casper Wells, Detroit Tigers – 18.78 seconds [video]
I keep meaning to go back and find all the first-career-homer trotters and see what happens to them in their first ever circuit around the bases, but I just haven’t yet. It’s still nice to see one of the newly-minted men atop the board with the quickest trot. Curtis Granderson‘s first homer of the night came in second, with 18.82 seconds.
