Sorry, need to keep this brief again today. It's been a busy weekend.

Home Run of the Day: Jim Thome, Minnesota Twins #2 (Trot Time: 23.14 seconds) [video]

Thome started the afternoon one home run behind Mark McGwire on the all-time leaderboards. He ended the day one home run ahead of McGwire on the leaderboard. I keep saying it, but I'm having a lot of fun seeing Thome continue to mash so late in his career.

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Six games on Thursday led to nineteen home runs. Fourteen games yesterday led to sixteen home runs. That's just how things go sometimes, I guess.

Home Run of the Day: Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals (Trot Time: 20.03 seconds) [video]

Not a lot to choose from here, so I'm going with Gordon's eighth-inning, game-tying blast as the Home Run of the Day. Of course, the Royals would go on to lose 9-5 in the 11th after giving up four runs, but that doesn't keep Gordon's blast from being meaningful.

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I have to say, when I saw that there were only six games on the schedule yesterday, I was certain it'd be an easy day at the Tater Trot Tracker. And, for the most part, it was. Except for the Twins/Tigers and Phillies/Rockies games, which provided a total of 11 home runs just between the two of them. The other four games gave us 8 home runs total...

Home Run of the Day: Casper Wells, Detroit Tigers (Trot Time: 18.78 seconds) [video]

I fully expected to give the Home Run of the Day to either Gerald Laird, who ended the ridiculous Twins/Tigers game with a home run in the top of the 13th, or Chase Utley, who completed a Philadelphia 9-run seventh-inning with a grand slam that put the Phillies ahead for good. But Casper Wells tied the game up in the top of the ninth with an opposite field shot for his first career home run. That's a pretty sweet spot to earn your first knock.

(The saddest part of the blast? The kid in right field who totally had the ball on the fly but dropped it, letting the ball fall to the field. The Twins cameras caught the kid, with glove over face, crying into his father's stomach. And, since it was Wells' first career blast, it's not like they were going to throw the ball back up to him. Tough break, kid. Tough break.)

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Sorry I missed the July Month in Review post at the start of last month. It coincided with my trip to Atlanta for SABR 40, and, with the internet situation over there, it just didn't happen. By the time I got back home, it felt too late in the month to do it. So here we are now. Let's get started.

As I've done three times already, I wanted to take a little time here to see how things are working out so far in the world of home run trots. As I said at the beginning:

I started this series because I thought it'd be a fun way to watch the season. It hasn't disappointed yet. Watching every home run, and seeing how every player runs out their home runs, has given me a new way to enjoy the game. Is he running hard out of the box? Does he throttle it down halfway between first and second when he sees the ball clear the fence? Or does he put his head down and run hard for all 360 feet?

That is still definitely the case, even if I have watched nearly 3,800 home runs this year.

Let's get to the data. All stats below are as of home runs hit through August 31. If a home run trot was deemed unmeasurable (like when Mike Stanton's home run was initially ruled a triple before being overturned on replay), it was not included in any of the calculations. I think there's some interesting stuff in there.

This spreadsheet provides full player and team stats.

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It's gonna be a brief one today... Sorry.

Home Run of the Day: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies (Trot Time: 22.56 seconds) [video]

CarGo is having a great season and yet I don't think I've ever mentioned him up here. On a day where there weren't any real major home runs, Gonzalez's 30th home run makes the cut.

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These are the types of days where I regret starting the Tater Trot Tracker. Sometimes MLB.tv just doesn't want to cooperate. It can be a little much... But it's what I asked for, so I'll just shut up now.

Home Run of the Day: Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees (Trot Time: 22.72 seconds) [video]

But only because good friend of the blog, Rob Iracane from Walkoff Walk, and his father were able to snag the Teixeira bomb on the fly. That's the two of them hugging there in the screenshot. You can read Rob's take on it over here.

In the non-Teixeira category, the home run of the day belongs to Chicago's A.J. Pierzynski, who crushed a three run blast in the top of the ninth to put the White Sox ahead 4-1 with Manny Ramirez waiting in the on-deck circle. His trot came in at a leisurely 25.77 seconds (video).

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Home Run of the Day: Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals (Trot Time: 24.48 seconds) [video]

As much as I would love to give Carlos Zambrano the Home Run of the Day mantle for hitting a bomb into a crowd of "bleacher bums" who were so excited to be at a Cubs-Pirate tilt that they wore their best Yankees and Giants jerseys... Or for how much I'd love to honor Jason Heyward's blast for reminding us all just how good the kid really is... I just can't do it, not when Washington's Ryan Zimmerman hit a ball so hard off the upper deck facing in Pro Player Stadium that he busted a whole array of lights on the electronic display (see the great graphic here). That is exactly the type of home run a meaningless award like the Home Run of the Day was meant to honor.

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