April 10, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for April 9

by Larry Granillo

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It was a long day on Saturday, with a lot of extra baseball: doubleheaders, suspended games, extra-innings... All of that added up to a mere 25 home runs on the day, a very manageable number.

But enough of that. Let's get to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Carlos Ruiz, Philadelphia Phillies - 23.02 seconds [video]
A pair of New York players - the Mets' Carlos Beltran and the Yankees' Russell Martin - each hit two home runs on Saturday to lead their teams to victory, but I'll take the pinch-hit grand slam in what was, at the time, a close game as the Home Run of the Day. The Phillies were leading the Braves 3-2 in the seventh inning when Carlos Ruiz came in to hit for pitcher Roy Oswalt. On the third pitch from Atlanta's Scott Linebrink, Ruiz homered into Turner Field's leftfield bleachers to bust the game open. The Phillies would go on to win 10-2.

Slowest Trot: Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers - 25.95 seconds [video]
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Orioles took it to the Rangers in a 5-0 win. The second game didn't go as well, with the Rangers scoring six runs in the third inning alone. By the time Nelson Cruz came up to bat in the ninth, Texas was up 10-1. His three run blast made it 13-1, while his trot took nearly 26 seconds. He must have thought two seconds for every run on the board sounded nice.

Quickest Trot: Curtis Granderson, New York Yankees - 19.01 seconds [video]
There were three sub-twenty second trots on Saturday, with the trots from Howie Kendrick and Danny Espinosa both clocking in at 19.33 seconds. Curtis Granderson takes the title, though, with his 19.01 second, fifth-inning sprint around the Fenway Park bases.

(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.)