Nothing pleases me more than checking the box scores and seeing that David Ortiz has hit a home run. It's a glorious thing to have him back in our life, hitting dingers and trotting the bases.
Let's get to the trots!
Home Run of the Day: Luis Valbuena, Chicago Cubs – 20.67 seconds [video]
The best home run to watch from Thursday was the blast from Paul Goldschmidt above. However, with apologies to Alex Gordon, David Ortiz, and Robinson Cano, the Home Run of the Day goes to Luis Valbuena for this quote from after the game.
"I'm so excited — ninth inning, two outs," he said. 'I tried to hit a home run. It was the only opportunity I had. I didn't want to play extra innings. I wanted to win the game there."
Slowest Trot: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox – 27.51 seconds [video]
Big Papi does not disappoint. In only his fifth game of the season, Ortiz crushes one over the center field wall at Fenway Park. He spends the next 27.5 seconds slowly rounding the bases. It's like he was never gone!
Quickest Trot: Francisco Cervelli, New York Yankees – 17.81 seconds [video]
All you need to know about Francisco Cervelli's year so far is that this was his third tater trot of the season—and his slowest.
On the other side of the diamond, Brett Lawrie hit his first home run of the season in this game. He too blazed around the bases, but wound up with only a 17.99 second trot. If he hadn't noticeably slowed rounding third and stepping on the plate, he would have easily beat Cervelli for the quickest trot of the day (and possibly of the season).
All of Today's Trots David Ortiz.........27.51 Edwin Encarnacion...21.27 Adam Dunn...........23.73 Nate Schierholtz....21.17* Ike Davis...........22.89 Gaby Sanchez........21.09 Paul Goldschmidt....22.7 Luis Valbuena.......20.67 Carlos Peguero......22.35 Vernon Wells........20.39 Alex Gordon.........22.19 Kyle Seager.........20.2 Jose Lobaton........21.94 Bryce Harper........19.75 Robinson Cano.......21.91 Danny Espinosa......18.85* Joey Votto..........21.51 Brett Lawrie........17.99 Chris Davis.........21.49 Francisco Cervelli..17.81 Josh Willingham.....21.48
Click here for the ongoing 2013 Tater Trot Tracker Leaderboard. You can also follow @TaterTrotTrkr on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute trot times.
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