Frontpage Features

BY BLAIR VORSATZ

On Sunday afternoon, Jhonny Peralta, the Cleveland Indians’ infielder, hit a three-run inside-the-park home run at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.  This feat was only possible because Ryan Raburn, the Detroit Tigers’ center fielder, fell through the bullpen door in an attempt to make the third out.

Raburn was initially unable to stand up and retrieve the ball from where it ended up, forcing Brennan Boesch, the left fielder, to come over and get the ball.  With all of the time-wasting commotion, Peralta was able to get around the bases.  This odd exchange gave Peralta an inside-the-park home run, which is very rare, considering there were only 11 in 2008.

Peralta is quite the slow runner, and were it not for Raburn’s unfortunate incident, then it would have been almost impossible for him to score an inside-the-park home run.   It took him 16.74 seconds to go plate-to-plate, which is slower than five regular home run trots so far in 2010.  To further illustrate his slowness, there were a total of 2,799 stolen bases in 2008 (an average of over 10 bases per player).  Peralta has definitely not contributed his fair share, stealing 1 base in the 2009 season and a total of 9 over the last 8 seasons.  Thankfully, he’s not quite as slow as Bengie Molina, who still managed to record a cycle on Friday night.  Molina took 14.84 seconds to get to third (it “only” took Peralta 16.74 seconds to get all the way around the bases). He was so slow that one sports columnist remarked that “he didn’t even have to slow down to stop at third base.”  However, it seems that these slower runs can often compensate with power or consistency.  After all, there’s a reason that they’re playing professional baseball. 

From Peralta’s point of view, he must feel very lucky and fortunate to have had a possible out turn into a home run.  Raburn, on the other hand, must feel frustrated that he was unable to catch the ball, field it, or even positively affect the play.  If Raburn had opted to field the ball after it rebounded off the wall, Peralta would certainly not have passed second.  However, he went for the heroic attempt at the third out and took himself out of the play.  The good news for Raburn is that no matter what he did (besides catch the ball for an out), at least two players would have scored.  On a relative basis, the third run didn’t make that much of a difference, considering the Tigers lost 7 – 2. Even if he had caught it, they still would have lost.  Hopefully Raburn is holding his head high, knowing that he gave it his all.