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The night was dominated by one ultra-rare occurrence that had only happened 15 times before: Cesar Izturis's home run for the Brewers, the 16th home run of his career. I suppose a few people were also talking about the four home runs Josh Hamilton put up against the Baltimore Orioles last night, too.

The rest of Tuesday's trots will be up later this afternoon, but here's a quick look at Hamilton's quartet. (UPDATE: They're now up.)

Home Run of the Day: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers #4 – 20.8 seconds [video]
For the first time in nearly ten years, and only the 16th time in history, a player connected for four home runs in a single game. It was quite a sight to see. In the four at-bats, Hamilton saw only a total of nine pitches. Three of the home runs went to dead centerfield – with two being so similar that centerfielder Adam Jones made nearly-identical leaps at the wall in the hopes of snagging each – while the other went opposite field into the leftfield stands. Hamilton made the job of hitting a baseball 400-feet look about as simple as anyone ever has in that game.

There was very little difference in the feel of each trot. Hamilton isn't one to show too much emotion during a home run trot. Instead, he tends to just put his head down and run hard. For someone who is usually so consistent with his trots, it was interesting to see the inconsistency in Tuesday's trots. For home run #1 [video], Hamilton was a bit slower than normal, rounding the bases in 23.62 seconds. This was the home run where Jones almost injured himself reaching for the ball over the fence. It's possible that Hamilton might have thought the ball was caught, or that Jones was hurt, during the trot, thus slowing him down. Or it's possible he just felt a bit slow during the trot.

Things sped up for home run #2 [video], the only ball that didn't clear the centerfield fence. On the opposite field blast, Hamilton came home in 21.42 seconds. The third home run [video] was nearly a clone of #1, only this time Jones didn't crumple to the ground after he made the jump. Later, Hamilton would say that he always wanted to have a three-home run game. That might explain Hamilton taking so much time on the bases, soaking it all in. That trot clocked in at 24.22 seconds.

There was very little doubt on the final home run, which bounced past the fence and off into the Orioles bullpen. Hamilton saved his best and quickest trot for last, speeding around the bases on his record-tying home run in 20.8 seconds. It's not as fast as some of Hamilton's trots can be, but we can't fault him for that! It was his fourth home run of the day!

Overall, Josh Hamilton spent 90.06 seconds on the basepaths running out his four home. runs. That's not too bad! (Now how do I go about clocking tater trots for the other Four Home Run Club players?)

Slowest Trot: Billy Butler, Kansas City Royals – 25.49 seconds [video]
Have I mentioned recently how much I love watching Billy Butler run? No matter how hard he tries, he just can't produce a quicker trot. He seemed to be running the fast the whole way here and he still managed a 25.49 second trot. It's amazing.

Quickest Trot: Curtis Granderson, New York Yankees – 18.92* seconds [video]
The best version of this trot I can find still cuts back to Granderson as he's one or two steps past home plate, so his time is slightly better than 18.92 seconds. However, given how fast Granderson moves around the bases, it's not that much better. Raul Ibanez's two home runs in this game are the next two quickest trots on the night.

 

All of Today's Trots

Billy Butler......25.49       Kelly Johnson.....21.77
Rod Barajas.......25.4        Josh Hamilton #2..21.42
Adrian Beltre.....24.38       Brett Pill........21.18*
Josh Hamilton #3..24.22       JJ Hardy..........21.17
Jose Molina.......23.83       Jay Bruce.........21.04
Josh Hamilton #1..23.62       Nick Markakis.....21.01
Ryan Doumit.......23.59       Andrew McCutchen..20.93
Cesar Izturis.....23.58       Josh Hamilton #4..20.8
Carlos Beltran #1.23.3        Omar Infante......20.78
Prince Fielder....23.08       Carlos Beltran #2.20.75
John Buck.........23.02       Josh Reddick......20.11
Garrett Jones.....22.85       Hunter Pence......19.48
Luke Scott........22.62       Raul Ibanez #1....19.44
Brandon Inge......22.61       Raul Ibanez #2....19.22
Wilson Ramos......22.47       Curtis Granderson.18.92*
Adam LaRoche......22.08*

Click here for the ongoing 2012 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.

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