October 29, 2012

Tater Trot Tracker

World Series, Game 4

by Larry Granillo

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Heading into Sunday night, I was beginning to worry that the World Series would end with no more home runs hit. After all, besides Pablo Sandoval's big outburst on Wednesday in Game 1 and a mostly meaningless ninth-inning blast from Jhonny Peralta, we had seen zero home runs in the Fall Classic. And there wasn't much reason to expect things to change, with Game 4 being played in near-freezing temperatures and with neither the Tigers' nor Giants' bats looking all that formidable. Thankfully, a strong wind blowing high above the field Sunday night was there to help the cause.

Let's get to the trots!

Sunday's Trots

It wasn't a good series for Detroit's big bats, but at least the Triple Crown winner can point to something good with the wind-aided home run that gave the Tigers their first lead of the entire World Series. The home run was such a surprise that the television cameraman barely had the top of the fence in his shot when the ball cleared the wall. Even better, the Detroit fan who "caught" the ball didn't even seem to know that the ball was coming his way until the last minute. None of this helped Cabrera trot around the bases any faster, as he finally touched home 23.84 seconds after he made contact (video).

The Giants responded to the Cabrera home run with a two-run blast from a possible-MVP of their own. In the sixth, Buster Posey launched a ball down the left field line that cleared the 345-foot fence and gave San Francisco a 3-2 lead. The young catcher, who also had been having a less-than-stellar World Series up to that point, trotted home in 21.13 seconds (video).

Detroit tied the game up in the bottom half of the inning, when ALCS MVP Delmon Young took advantage of the wind blowing out to right field. His opposite field shot looked like a poke the other way but it ended on the other side of the fence and with the game tied at 3 (video). Young trotted home in 21.77 seconds. It wasn't enough, though, as the Giants pushed the World Series-winning run across in the top of the tenth inning.

Miguel Cabrera..23.84
Delmon Young....21.77
Buster Posey....21.13

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