September 20, 2011

Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for September 19

by Larry Granillo

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There was no shortage of interesting home runs hit over the last couple of days as we enter the last days of summer and the final homestands of half the league.

Let's get right to the trots!

Home Run of the Day: Mike Stanton, Florida Marlins #1 - 21.51 seconds [video]
Before we talk about Stanton's home run, let's take a moment to talk about the home runs that did not make Home Run of the Day: a broken bat home run from Justin Upton, in which the barrel of the bat nearly reached the outfield grass; a walkoff home run by Stanton's teammate Omar Infante, who was only at bat thanks to a game-preserving miscue by Chipper Jones only two pitches before; an inside-the-park home run from Jacoby Ellsbury; and, since we missed Sunday's trots, a pair of home runs by Pablo Sandoval, each hit in Sunday's fourth inning, and a home run over the "415" sign in Coors Field from pitcher Matt Cain. As great as they all were, those home runs weren't good enough to beat out Mike Stanton's first-inning blast Monday.

Stanton actually hit two home runs on Monday. Hit Tracker Online tells us that Stanton's second home run (video), a ball that reached the second layer of seats in deep, dark, straightaway centerfield in Sun Life Stadium, actually sailed 53 feet farther than the Home Run of the Day. Be that as it may, it was the first home run that impressed me the most. The ball was launched down the leftfield line, eventually coming down *above* the tunnels in the upper deck of Sun Life Stadium. Hit Tracker Online may say it was only a 408 foot blast, but that ball was easily the biggest moonshot I've ever seen. I have no choice but to call it Home Run of the Day.

Slowest Trot: Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals - 24.88 seconds [video]
It's Berkman's 31st home run of the year. He's certainly cooled down since his ridiculous start in April, but there's no doubting that Berkman has had a fantastic year for the Cardinals. His crown for the day as Slowest Trotter comes only no one was all that slow on Monday. A 24.88 second trot is not usually the slowest of the day.

The two slowest trots on Sunday belonged to a pair of Chicago White Sox: A.J. Pierzynski, at 26.4 seconds, and Paul Konerko at 26.03 seconds.

Quickest Trot: Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox - 14.83 seconds [video]
The Red Sox may have had their problems lately, but things definitely went their way in the second game of the Baltimore/Boston doubleheader on Monday. Ellsbury's inside-the-parker - the result of a ball clanging off a metal pole atop the angled fence in centerfield - is just the best example. The next quickest trot was New York's Curtis Granderson, who trotted in at 19.13 seconds.

On Sunday, the quickest trot of the day belonged to Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez, who hustled around the bases in 17.2 seconds.

All of Today's Trots

Lance Berkman......24.88    Mike Stanton #2....21.13
Omar Infante.......24.42    Robert Andino......21
Brandon Phillips...23.98    Torii Hunter.......20.82
Geovany Soto #1....23.98    J.J. Hardy.........20.72
Geovany Soto #2....23.63    Nolan Reimold......20.57
Conor Jackson......23.05    Jason Heyward......20.52
Asdrubal Cabrera...22.48    Mark Ellis.........20.32
Carlos Santana.....22.27    Jerry Hairston.....20.12
Chris Parmelee.....21.78    Aaron Cunningham...20.12
Mike Carp..........21.62*   Alex Liddi.........20.09
Jed Lowrie.........21.59    Darnell McDonald...20.03
Casey McGehee......21.55    Matt Downs.........19.85
Mike Stanton #1....21.51    Logan Morrison.....19.36
Justin Upton.......21.49    Cameron Maybin.....19.34
Mark Trumbo........21.44    Curtis Granderson..19.13
Michael Cuddyer....21.35    Jacoby Ellsbury....14.83
Dan Uggla..........21.2

Sunday's Trots

A.J. Pierzynski #2..26.4    Pablo Sandoval #1...21.56
Paul Konerko........26.03   Erick Aybar #2......21.48
Vladimir Guerrero...25.97   Brandon Belt........21.4
Pablo Sandoval #2...25.52   Paul Goldschmidt....21.29
Miguel Montero .....22.96   Lucas Duda..........21.12
Allen Craig #1......22.76   Brett Hayes.........21.06
A.J. Pierzynski #1..22.75   Adam Lind #1........21
Prince Fielder......22.55   Matt Cain...........20.97
Allen Craig #2......22.47   Adrian Beltre.......20.96*
Mike Fontenot.......22.44   Mike Aviles.........20.56
Corey Hart..........22.28   Gaby Sanchez........20.44
Shelley Duncan......22.2    Adam Lind #2........20.43
Vernon Wells........22.09   Brandon Crawford....20.17
Albert Pujols.......21.99   Jerry Sands.........19.46
Erick Aybar #1......21.6    Austin Jackson......18.3
Alex Gonzalez.......21.6    Carlos Gomez........17.2
Matt Kemp...........21.58