There are five day-baseball games going on this afternoon. That's fantastic. You all have my permission to leave work early and watch them, whether at home, at a bar, or at the stadium itself.
Now let's get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals #2 – 19.97 seconds [video]
Harper was one of three players to hit two home runs on Wednesday night. He was joined by Evan Longoria and Chris Heisey. This second blast of Harper's was a doozy, landing halfway up the second deck of Marlins Park. My question is, whatever happened to the quick sprints from Harper? He still two of the ten fastest trots of the year (including the single quickest non-inside-the-park home run trot), but that doesn't seem to be the norm anymore. How disappointing.
Slowest Trot: Kendrys Morales, Los Angeles Angels – 26.56 seconds [video]
A big blast from the Angels' first-baseman caught Morales watching the ball a little more than usual. He's not a very quick trotter to begin with, so it's no surprise that Morales beat out Brandon Phillips for the slowest trot of the day.
Quickest Trot: Chris Heisey, Cincinnati Reds #1 – 17.3* seconds [video]
I always love when Chris Heisey hits home runs because he never slacks on his tater trot. When he hits two home runs in a game, it's even better. Neither of Heisey's trots on Wednesday were quite fast enough to break the top ten on the year, but they were very close, as he ended with the day's two quickest trots. Kurt Suzuki, with his own 18.91 second trot, was the next quickest.
All of Today's Trots Kendrys Morales...26.56 Mitch Moreland....22.3* Brandon Phillips..25.7 Yunel Escobar.....21.44 AJ Ellis..........25.24 Hunter Pence......21.21 Hanley Ramirez....24.18 Josh Hamilton.....20.86 David Ross........24.13 Chris Iannetta....20.44 Evan Longoria #2..23.43 Elliot Johnson....20.04 Josh Willingham...23.4 Bryce Harper #2...19.97 Trevor Plouffe....23.36 Jason Donald......19.84 Evan Longoria #1..23.24* BJ Upton..........19.47* Pedro Alvarez.....22.8 Bryce Harper #1...19.28 Dioner Navarro....22.64 Kurt Suzuki.......18.91 Josh Donaldson....22.4 Chris Heisey #2...17.61 Lucas Duda........22.4 Chris Heisey #1...17.3*
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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