April 7, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for April 6

by Larry Granillo

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It's still early enough in the season that plenty of teams haven't even played at home yet, so why everyone is so up in arms over a couple of 0-5 starts is beyond me. The season is also young enough still for certified mashers - Adrian Gonzalez, Shin-Soo Choo - to barely be getting around to their first home runs of the year. Let's not worry too much about any of this... there are still 157 games or so left to play. Things will change.

For now, though, let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Chris Young, Arizona Diamondbacks** - 15.31 seconds [video]
Well, technically, it wasn't a home run. The Wrigley Field scorekeeper called it a triple with an error, but I don't know if I agree completely. Young hit a tough ball to centerfield, which Marlon Byrd elected to dive for. He missed the ball and it bounced past him. Leftfielder Alfonso Soriano came in, picked up the ball, spun around and fired it back in. Except Soriano didn't pick it up cleanly, and the ball scooted about three feet away from him before he picked it up. He couldn't have been delayed more than a second in getting the ball in.

Meanwhile, Young was flying around third and came into score standing up. The ball wasn't even relayed to home, as the cutoff man was missed. Soriano was credited with an error, and Young got the triple. But I've seen plenty of inside-the-park home runs and, almost to a 'T', they're all filled with these kinds of defensive mistakes. I'm not sure the little bobble by Soriano is enough to take the home run away from Young (or even the poor throw). He was scoring anyway.

Slowest Trot: Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs - 25.95 seconds [video]
This game had it all. Besides Soriano's slow trot, there was also a home run hit in the third inning by Aramis Ramirez (23.35 secs.). Watching the video, it's clear that the fan who caught the ball reached out beyond the Wrigley Field fence to snag it. Chris Young was there to point it out to the umpires, but there was no review. Todd Helton (25.78 sec) and Victor Martinez (25.32 sec) also placed high on the board with 25+-second trots.

Quickest Trot: B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays - 17.86 seconds [video]
Mere minutes after I (jokingly, of course) chided Upton in yesterday's Tater Trot Tracker post for not trotting his Tuesday home run in under-18 seconds, he went out and hit a home run off of the Angels' Dan Haren and gave us that sub-18 second trot. I like to believe that Upton went into the clubhouse, noticed the post, and used it as motivation when he stepped to the plate. I mean, what else could explain that?

(Remember: I am running an experiment over the next couple of weeks. If you're interested in Tater Trot Tracker commentary during the day, follow the Tater Trot Tracker on Twitter at @TaterTrotTrkr. We'll see how it goes. You can also follow me at @Wezen_Ball.)