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Wednesday's Trots
Four playoff games spanning twelve hours and they were (nearly) all bonkers. What a great day!

The one uninteresting game was the early matchup between Washington and St. Louis. The Cards continued along their second year of being ignored in the playoffs by beating the Nationals 8-0 to take a two-games-to-one lead. In the process, Pete Kozma hit his first posteason home run. Cincinnati and San Francisco squared off in Great American Ballpark, with the Giants winning 8-3. Home runs from Angel Pagan, Gregor Blanco, Pablo Sandoval and Ryan Ludwick (his second of the playoffs) kept that game entertaining.

But then we get to the nightcaps, with the Yankees beating the Orioles only after Raul Ibanez a) pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth b) hit a home run in that at-bat to tie the game up and c) hit another home run in his next at-bat in the 12th inning to win it. There was mayhem in New York that Oakland tried to copy only three hours later with their own walkoff victory (after being down 2-0 in the ninth inning). Prince Fielder hit the only home run in Oakland, but it seemed like a big one at the time.

And we get to do it all again today! October is the best.

Pablo Sandoval..23.82
Ryan Flaherty...22.39
Prince Fielder..21.46
Raul Ibanez #2..20.59
Manny Machado...20.32
Gregor Blanco...20.12
Pete Kozma......19.67
Raul Ibanez #1..19.39
Angel Pagan.....18.19
Ryan Ludwick....17.97

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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NYYanks826
10/11
Surprised that the second Ibanez trot was slower than the first, knowing the pure adrenaline that must have been surging through his body as he was rounding the bases.
lgranillo
10/11
Yeah, and Ibanez is so routinely a quick trotter. I'm pretty certain the trot was slowed down by him tossing his helmet away and then moving into the crowd of Yankees. It looks like he had to slow down a bit there to partake...

Here's the video: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25379793&c_id=mlb&topic_id=vtp_budweiser
harderj
10/11
I saw the embedded video of Sandoval's home run in a different article that said the cameraman lost it. I still haven't seen it. Did it splash down (in Cincy)? 442 feet was reported.
lgranillo
10/11
Here's Pablo's home run: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25375917&c_id=mlb

I'm pretty certain it landed in the bullpen there since the people standing behind it don't turn around to follow the ball. It was a monster shot though.
harderj
10/11
thanks much!