Vote The Pat

When he warrants criticism, we provide it. When he plays like a #1 pick, we praise him.

After years of flashes of greatness, unreached potential and perennial Met killing, Pat the Pat Burrell deserves a spot on this year's NL All-Star roster.

Show your love.

What Was the Most Amazing Part About Last Night's Phillies-Sox Game?

A. That Bartolo Colon might still have a posse after getting lit up so badly.

B. That Howard and Burrell each tripled in the same game (as The Fightins' Meech points out "Howard has a stolen base and a triple in back-to-back games. Davey Lopes must be doing something right").

C. That this lady hasn't learned her lesson to listen to her husband.

Someone Get on This...Meech? Matt P?

Phillies.com mailbag via Philadelphia Will Do:

I was watching an interview with Chase Utley, and at the end he said Pat Burrell owns a man purse. From your knowledge of the team, have you seen Burrell strutting around with a nice gator skin man purse? -- Kyle M., Pitman, N.J.

In seven years of being around Burrell, I have yet to see Burrell with a man purse of any kind, and I don't plan on asking him or Utley about it. That said, Utley ought to know, don't you think?

Anyone? We may open the man bag strings to anyone with photographic evidence.

Pat "The Pat" Wants to Remain a Phillie

Did you know?

An article today in the Philly Inquirer points out that Pat Burrell is only the third player in Phillies history to hit 20 or more homers in seven straight seasons (joining Mike Schmidt and Bobby Abreu). His 218 career homers are fifth in franchise history. And he has had 95 or more RBIs in each of the last three seasons. He is also one of "four position players, joining J.D. Drew, Adrian Beltre and Eric Chavez, who have contracts of $50 million or more and never made an all-star team."

For Phillies phans, the career of Pat Burrell in a Philadelphia has been that of an enigma. In 2002, his second full year in the majors, many fans, including myself, saw him as our city's next superstar. His accolades and numbers against the hated Mets remains among the greatest in the sport. Despite his upside, his long homerun swing has seen many more whiffs than dingers. On a team with 3 perennial MVP candidates in Utley, Howard and Rollins, and potential Cy Young mainstay Hamels, fans have grown weary of the "Bat's" underachieving. Yet, in the wake of their historic rise to division champions last year, Burrell's production and enthusiasm reignited the team, and fan base.

Despite efforts by management to move him and his hefty contract, and fans' efforts to run him out of town, Burrell remains as much a part of the Phillies re-emergence as playoff contenders than ever. The hope that he will regain his early promise lingers. A holdover from the overpaid, deadweight days of Abreu, Bell and company, I never thought we'd still see him in red and white, none the less the National League given his injury problems and defensive liability.

Burrell has arguably been booed and criticized as much as any athlete in the city's history. Still, he likes it here, and as the article referenced above points out, wants to remain a Philadelphia Phillie. That makes him sound more a machine than man, but, in a sense, that's admirable. When "superstars" like Wagner and Rolen couldn't wait to bolt and couldn't handle the rigors of playing in the City of Brotherly Love, Pat still yearns to win us over, and more importantly win us a championship.

We, like many, have been critical of him. But just like any baseball fan around this time of year, we have hope that this year will be different. That this is our year. This is Pat's year. God willing.

Said Burrell in the Inq piece,"Any time you deal with adversity and go through personally some of the things I have in this game, you have two choices. You can let it beat you up, or you can build from it and go forward. Because of that you become stronger. I believe I'm not only a better player, but a better person - definitely more understanding. Sometimes you feel like you're all alone out there, but everybody that played long enough has been through times when things aren't going right."

Things haven't been right for sometime, both in his game and in our relationship as fans with Pat. Maybe this year we can both make amends.

Shecky Gillick

Take my left fielder...please.

Phils Might kick in $1.5M to unload Burrell

(Photo: Match Game Wallpaper Factory)

I just flew in from mediocrity and boy are my arms tired!

(Photo: deadspin.com)

An apology to "Pat the Pat"

I don't remember where I first read it, but since I did, a name that has endured in the McCormack household has been "Pat the Pat." We have come to accept all that he is and all that he isn't. We don't boo him, and truly pull for him more than, or at least as much as, we do any other member of the team.

As we've seen the likes of Rolen, Abreu, Bell, Millwood and every other misplaced, miserable and/or under-achieving player come and go over the last few years, and as we hold onto hope both this year and for years to come, mainly because of guys like Howard, Utley, Rollins and Hamels, through it all, we've had our Pat.

He is our Pat, Phillies Phans, for better or for worse. And his second half has been much easier to love.

And it has been as much our Pat's doing that we are on the cusp of the playoffs as September approaches its end as any other member of the squad.

While his at-bat theme implies, “we kick him when he's up, we kick him when he's down", give him a hand and give him a break.

So forgive us, Pat...and we will try and forgive you for this...



and then we are even.

-posted by Ren McCormack