Kuzul

Philadelphia Phillies rookie Pat Burrell strode to the plate on June 20, 2000, to lead off the top of the ninth inning at Shea Stadium.

Hard-throwing closer Armando Benitez was on the mound for New York’s most beloved team, the Mets, who were leading the hapless Phillies, 2-1.

Burrell hit a home run off Benitez to tie the game that the Phillies would win, 3-2, in 10 innings.

The next night, the teams were tied, 5-5 in the top of the ninth inning.

The Phillies loaded the bases against John Franco. The tie was broken when the usually reliable Franco walked Ricky Jordan to force home future New York Times baseball writer, Doug Glanville.

Mets manager Bobby Valentine yanked left-hander Franco in favor of right-hander Benitez. Burrell was next to hit.

Burrell promptly hit a grand slam against Benitez to put the game out of reach.

Yesterday, July 31, 2010, Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Joe Torre, who sometimes mistakes closer Jonathan Broxton for Mariano Rivera, brought in Broxton with two outs in the eighth inning for a potential four-out save against the San Francisco Giants.

The inning started out innocently enough.

With the Dodgers leading, 2-1, left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo, who had retired the Giants in order in the seventh inning, got Freddy Sanchez out on a harmless fly ball to right fielder Garrett Anderson on one pitch.

The dangerous Aubrey Huff, one of the great acquisitions of the season, took Kuo’s first pitch for a called strike, and then grounded out harmlessly to first baseman James Loney for the second out.

Buster Posey was the next batter.

According to Torre, the Dodgers didn’t want to give Posey a chance to extend his arms and hit a long ball that might tie the game, so Kuo worked him inside.

The Dodgers’ problem was that Kuo worked him too much inside. His first delivery hit Buster on the upper left arm, putting the potential tying run on first.

Torre, who has admitted that he sometimes overworks his most effective relievers, as Scott Proctor knows, brought in Broxton to face Burrell.

Broxton is 6’4″ and weighs 295 pounds. He throws close to 100 mph.

Benitez is 6’4″ and weighed 260 pounds. He threw close to 100 mph.

Burrell stepped into the batters box. Benitez—sorry, Broxton, fell behind, three balls and no strikes. Burrell took the next delivery for a called strike.

Posey took his lead off first base, Broxton went to the stretch, checked Posey at first, and delivered. Burrell fouled it off.

With the count full, Posey would be off with the next pitch.

Broxton peered in to get the signal from Russell Martin, nodded in assent, checked Posey at first, and delivered.

Burrell blasted the 3-2 pitch on a line drive into the left field seats. The crowd went wild.

Guillermo Mota did what Broxton could not.

The former Dodger, who entered the game in the top of the eighth inning with one out and struck out Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp, retired the Dodgers in order in the ninth inning to get the win.

After the game, Burrell, whose game-winning home run was his first since June 29, and who had hit home runs to put the Giants ahead two other times this season, spoke with reporters.

“We’re in a real good situation. You have to be fortunate to be in position to make the playoffs. We’ve got to approach every game as if it is crunch time, because in reality it is.”

Manager Bruce Bochy said it best, “It’s hard to get a bigger hit than that.”

Tonight, the Giants and Dodgers meet again. Don’t be surprised if Torre brings in Broxton again. It’s only August.

Reference:

Retrosheet

CBS Sportsline

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With the draft on the horizon it is the perfect time to take a look back at some of baseball’s all time best #1 picks. Just because someone is drafted #1 overall doesn’t mean they are going to be the next best thing just look at Brien Taylor. Sometimes, however, teams who did their scouting wind up with future hall of famers.

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Call it Christmas in June for the usual suspects in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Given the warm yuletide season around here and the scorching hot couple of days the City’s seen recently, the analogy works splendidly. The only real difference is that baseball is being played at the Oakland Coliseum and AT&T Park.

And it’s in the outfield of the jewel formerly known as Pac Bell where the anti-Brian Sabean ogres will (soon) find their unexpected present.

I’ll ruin the suspense—underneath the fancy paper and shiny bow is a 33-year-old, allegedly broken down, no-range left fielder who spent the last two (unsuccessful) years in Tampa Bay as a designated hitter.

Ray fans would probably say he’s more accurately described as a designated out.

Aging beauty, thy name is Pat Burrell.

But before getting to the San Francisco Giants’ latest Hail Mary to save their struggling offense, let’s address a quick bit of housekeeping.

When I say anti-Sabean ogres, I don’t mean his skeptics at large—the man has given Giant die-hards PLENTY about which to be skeptical over his tenure so I can’t blame everyone who wants new blood.

Instead, I’m screaming directly into the deaf ears of the geniuses who pretend the general manager has never done a darn thing right.

The ones who will tell you the former New York Yankee amateur talent scout who inked Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte (amongst others) got lucky when Jeff Kent was “accidentally” acquired in the famous Matt Williams trade.

The ones who pretend Brian had a gun to his head when he was “forced” to draft Tim Lincecum.

The double-jointed magicians who surely are working up some crazy explanation for the 2010 excellence (to date) otherwise known as Aubrey Huff. Or to contort away the resurrection of Freddy Sanchez from the ashes of injury.

In other words, the snark is reserved for Brian Sabean’s unreasonable detractors.

If you play it close to the middle and simply aren’t a fan of the Giant GM, stay out of the crossfire because my rubber bullets aren’t meant for you. I don’t want, need, or expect a consensus.

Back to the point—Mr. Burrell.

I’m sure the hew and cry around the Bay for the next few weeks will be about the at-bats now earmarked for a guy on the wrong side of 30 who is neck-deep in decline. Even if Pat the Bat hasn’t been brought aboard to be anything more than a menacing name off the bench, certain fans will be apoplectic about the chances that could be better spent on developing potential young studs like Nate Schierholtz and John Bowker.

The logic will go like this—the dude hasn’t been useful since he hit more than 30 bombs for the eventual World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in 2008.

Even that season, he only hit .250, fanned way too frequently (136 times), played a brutal left field, and had his offensive numbers bloated by a bandbox. Since then, Burrell’s had a full season worth of plate appearances in a more realistic baseball stadium and didn’t produce squat.

Despite being a cog in one of Major League Baseball’s premium batting orders with Tampa, he authored the following horror story: 496 AB, 54 R, 21 2B, 16 HR, 77 RBI, 67 BB, 147 K, .218 BA, a sub-.680 OPS, and 8 GIDP (much to any Giant fan’s terror).

So the questions will be some form of, “What, pray (or prey) tell, are Los Gigantes thinking?”

What is the point of trying to revive a bleeding pulse in an equivalent (or worse) yard for lumber work, a hideously inferior lineup, and under adverse circumstances considering he’ll either be a pinch-hitter or actually have to play both sides of the ball?

There might even be a profanity or two sprinkled in to spice it up for the hoi polloi.

To be honest, the invisible question mark hanging over San Francisco isn’t totally unwarranted. Nevertheless, there are several things that turn insanity to sanity and they won’t make it into the public grousing.

As it’s usually the case.

Before anyone gets carried away, I’m not talking about his performances while with the Fresno Grizzlies. Forget that nonsense for a whole slew of reasons too numerous to list here.

Nope, we’re talking legitimate rays (yes!) of hope.

First and foremost, there is the price—a Minor League contract means San Fran is only on the hook for the prorated Big League minimum. That’s not cheap to you and me, but it is a relatively minuscule amount in the cuckoo world of professional sport economics.

If the move works, you’ve got yourself a wonderful bargain. If not, you pay the sunk cost in the span of a good home stand and return the plate reps to the kiddie corps.

Clean and easy.

Granted, you could make the same observation about paying some hack sports columnist to swing the bat and that wouldn’t make it a wonderful idea to pay me to don a Giant uniform. There’s gotta be the sincere threat of contribution otherwise the Gents are just setting fire to good money.

That’s generally a bad idea, no matter how little. Consequently, there must be at least one reason to believe and it can’t be too ridiculous.

Which brings me to my ace in the hole.

I’ve got a little birdie on the inside of the Burrell nest and it told me there is no way to overstate how miserable the guy was in Tampa. Word is he literally hated every second of his stay in so-called Florida—not that the organization or area is evil, just that it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad personal fit.

There was also the nasty little matter of an arduous divorce—as opposed to the picnic variety, I guess. By contrast, playing in the cavernous confines of AT&T might not be so tough.

Especially when you remember Burrell is a Bay Area native, rocked high school ball at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose, and has only ever tasted success in the Show’s National League time slot.

Naturally, my insider also leaked that ol’ Pat is as happy to be in the City as he is to be out of Tampa. Bears mentioning when you realize how complete the train wreck was down there.

Now, as we near the end, allow me to pump the brakes a bit.

None of the above guarantees that Pat Burrell will snap back to his thumping ways or even be a valuable San Francisco Giant. It’s hardly scientific and he’s certainly zeroing in on a birthday that will bring a precipitous/permanent decline.

But he’s not necessarily there yet.

Baseball is an insanely difficult game even when your noggin is screwed on tight.

It takes a special, special ballplayer to play like a winner when he feels like a loser. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise if Burrell let the dark St. Petersburg days affect his play.

Nor would it be a miracle if the one-time MVP candidate started knocking the pearl around with more authority.

As the saying goes, stranger things have happened.

And it goes double in baseball.

**www.pva.org**

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The pointless moaning about whether or not general manager Brian Sabean can build a winner in San Francisco has grown tiresome. There has also been whining about whether club ownership is willing to pay for the type of club that can actually succeed.

There’s no reason to rehash every personnel transaction under Sabean’s reign. The 2010 Giants, clearly, could use a power hitter—ideally one who can play the outfield.

The organization has absolutely nothing to lose by signing former Philadelphia Phillies star Pat Burrell to a minor league contract, especially if Burrell agrees to a two-week out clause. This clause would allow the Giants to place him on the big league roster or release him after 14 days in the minor leagues.

This isn’t the time to squawk about how 32-year-old slugger Adam Dunn is the guy the Giants really should’ve signed when he was a free agent in the winter of 2008. Dunn didn’t want to play in San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

Vladimir Guerrero didn’t want to play for Felipe Alou, so he took a pass on signing with the Giants years ago. Matt Holliday didn’t want to play in San Francisco either, so he signed a rich contract to play in a cozy ball park for the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s time just to admit that the Giants have nothing to lose by signing Burrell to a low-cost, make-good deal. He gets two weeks to see if, at age 33, he can do more to provide runs than the combination of John Bowker, Eugenio Velez, Nate Schierholtz, and Travis Ishikawa have in 2010. Burrell can play a little first base, so Ishikawa’s inexplicable spot on the big league roster must be taken into account when considering Burrell.

Burrell hit the skids when he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League. There are fans just aching to recite chapter and verse that will prove he’s absolutely finished as a big league hitter.

They are, largely, the same people who have spent the first couple months of the season dissecting the performances of Velez, Bowker, Schierholtz and Ishikawa as though they were studying Ruth, Mays, Aaron, and Ted Williams to determine who is the most productive outfielder of all-time.

Burrell strikes out a lot. A lot, a lot! (No! Please! God…don’t start harping about situational hitting and “small ball,” OK?) The history of the Major Leagues is filled with guys who hit well in one league and struggled in the other, like Matt Holliday. He blew chunks with the A’s and returned to previous glory upon arriving in St. Louis last summer.

Burrell hit 92 home runs and drove in 314 runs in his final three seasons in the National League. Yes, he has whiffed in 23.8 percent of his plate appearances.

Bowker’s struck out 22.3 percent of his plate appearances. (No, now’s not the time to drag out metrics or even do the math on Ishikawa’s whiff-ability.)

Recently, Burrell has hit home runs and driven in runs at a prodigious pace—33 homers, 86 RBIs in 2008. Those would be mind-boggling, monster stats for a guy in a San Francisco Giants uniform, right?

Heck, say he’s lost something and only hits 22 homers and drives in 72 runs. That seem worth giving him a minor league contract?

It would be wonderful to have two weeks where we accept the big league club for what it is and for where it is in the playoff race.

And, it would be really old-school, baseball-card-collecting type fun just to keep track of Burrell’s performance in Fresno. It’s tiresome to find glee only in checking on prospects who are months or years away.

Even if Burrell fails miserably, fans could choose to enjoy a two-week respite from the angst-filled cycle of complaints and finger-pointing.

It’s asking a lot of Giants fans to expect them to admit a Burrell deal can’t hurt anything and then to sit back and see what happens.

After all, Giants fans are are worried about Tim Lincecum’s focus and mechanics because he’s had three bad starts on the heel of back-to-back Cy Young Award seasons. Like a kid his age could win two Cy Youngs and then develop an irreparable flaw in his delivery or just lose the ability to focus?

The Giants have nothing to lose by signing Burrell. Whether fans can acknowledge as much remains to be seen.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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The San Francisco Giants are nearing a minor league deal with free agent outfielder Pat Burrell, 33, that would give the veteran two weeks to make good and earn a big league spot.

Burrell, a 10-year veteran from San Jose, starred for the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies World Series team. He is a lifetime .253 hitter with 267 homers. Burrell hit 92 home runs and drove in 314 runs in his final three seasons in the National League.

He signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Rays in January 2009, thus Tampa Bay still owes Burrell roughly $9 million.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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In an MLB.com article earlier today, Alden Gonzalez wrote that “one thing was evident when the first batch of American League voting results for the 81st All-Star Game were made public Monday: Winning yields votes.”

On the surface that may appear to be true. If we were to look at the American League voting so far, it rewards teams rather than players. More accurately, it rewards the well-known players on these winning teams, showing that in the American League voting, fans are just voting for popularity.

This is to be expected, given that the fans are voting, but shouldn’t the best players be the ones getting the votes? In some cases they are. There is no question that Robinson Cano is deserving of the starting second baseman job, and Joe Mauer is the obvious choice at catcher

Beyond that, Evan Longoria deserves the third base nod, and Ichiro deserves the top outfielder spot, as usual. Vladimir Guerrero is without question the top DH, as well.

My praise for the voting ends there though.

For as many good choices as there are, there are some that I’m scratching my head at. Yes, I get the players are popular, but they’re really doing that well?

Let’s look back at the designated hitter.

Vlad should be first, but the next four make no sense; we have Hideki Matsui, Ken Griffey, Pat Burrell, and David Ortiz rounding out the top five. Matsui is not playing very well, hitting only .227, and we all know how shoddy Griffey is. Including Ortiz in the discussion is fine.

But Pat Burrell? Really?

Yes, the guy who does not even have a team is fourth in voting.

Still, no Jose Guillen in there? I guess he’s on the Royals so he doesn’t count. Well, there are few DH playing well this year so I’ll let it slide.

The shortstop position isn’t as bad, but Elvis Andrus is playing well enough that he may well be worthy of the starting bid rather than Derek Jeter. Also, Alex Gonzalez should be third at worst—he’s playing far better than J.J. Hardy and Jason Bartlett, but again, they’re on good teams and that’s all that matters apparently.

I can’t argue with the current outfield of Ichiro, Carl Crawford, and Nelson Cruz. What puzzles me is how Yankees fan have Curtis Granderson ahead of Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner, who are playing far, far better baseball than he is. Still, how Vernon Wells is 11th and losing to Bobby Abreu and B.J. Upton shows what drives fans to vote.

Favorites.

The only position that truly bothers me right now though, and I hope it will be fixed, is first base. Mark Teixiera is first, then Justin Morneau, then Miguel Cabrera.

Mark “.209 average but it’s just a slow start” Teixiera is beating Justin “.383 average and beating you in HR and RBI” Morneau, and Miguel “also beating Teixiera in everything” Cabrera. Even Youkilis is doing better. But again, it’s a popularity contest. That being said, it will be rather hard to add in four first basemen to the roster.

Now, I’m aware that we are in the early stages of voting, and it’s very possible that the bugs, now that people have seen the first round, will fix themselves. The casual fan knows to vote for Morneau right now, though they’ll still vote for Cano, and possibly Jeter and A-Rod.

My problem with the current numbers may mean nothing. If we are just voting the popular ones to the all-star game no matter how badly they play though, then what’s the point? It’s not an honor any more if we do that.

So go vote, and vote for those players you think are most deserving. Don’t stuff your ballot with everyone from your team (come on Yankees fans, even you know Granderson’s not playing like an all-star).

Just go out there and vote smart. Make an informed decision. For it’s not the color of the uniform, but how well they play the game, that makes an all-star.

One last footnote: Taylor Teagarden is fourth in catcher votes. He’s played 10 games with a .037 average and isn’t even the Rangers’ starter now. The guy is fourth and has one hit!

Think about that.

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It’s official. After a 1-0 loss to the Oakland A’s, the Giants should be in panic mode when it comes to upgrading the offense. Aaron Rowand isn’t cutting it at leadoff (though this isn’t exactly “surprising” news) and for whatever reason, Pablo Sandoval has suddenly transformed from budding-Vlad Guerrero to budding-Randall Simon. Add that with Bengie Molina starting to cool off and things don’t look good for the Giants and their playoff aspirations.

That being said, despite the Giants desperate (and I mean, “Elizabeth Berkley needing an actress role” desperate) need for offense, they should pass on the following five players who are available and could come at low-cost, but are too much of a risk to acquire.

(Note: to see the original article, check it out at http://remember51.blogspot.com/)

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Pat Burrell just cleared waivers (no surprise there) and is now a free agent whom any team can sign for around $300,000 for the rest of the 2010 season.

With Mark DeRosa currently on the DL and possibly needing season-ending wrist surgery, I would expect the Giants to think long and hard about signing Burrell at a bargain price. 

You have to think after Burrell’s performance in the AL last season and his lack-there-of this year that only an NL team would give him a shot (except maybe a team like the Royals) to see if he can relive his former Phillies glory.

Giants’ GM Brian Sabean certainly loves his over-the-hill veterans, and Burrell could, at least in theory, provide the Giants with the right-handed power bat they’re lacking.

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“Now batting for the Phillies, leftfielder Pat Burrell!”

Longtime Phillies’ public address announcer Dan Baker called Pat the Bat’s name into the microphone nearly 2,700 times from 2000 through 2008. And, actually, it might not be such a bad thing if Baker had a few more chances to announce it in 2011.  

In 2008, Burrell’s arrival to home plate at Citizens Bank Park was accompanied each time by the sound of Don Henley’s ‘80s classic, “Dirty Laundry.”

I make my living off the evening news, just give me something, something I can use…

Could Burrell be introduced by the same soundtrack next year in Philly? Could Raul Ibanez move to right field so Pat could return to left?

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

All we know for sure right now is that the Phillies must have a right-handed outfield bat in the middle of their lineup in 2011. They must. We also know that current Phils’ right fielder Jayson Werth may not be a Philly next season.

Could Pat Burrell, the 33-year-old, former No. 1-overall draft pick in 1998, come back?

He could. And he should if Werth doesn’t stick around.

Pat signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the Rays after 2008. Just think of how cheap the Phillies will be able to get him when his 2010 contract expires. We know Pat will play for a bargain-basement price in 2011, which, if signed by the Phillies, would give the Phils financial freedom to address their pitching concerns.

Pat has a proven track record. He ranks third on the Phillies’ all-time home run list and seventh in total RBI. But to be blunt, Burrell’s been a total disaster down in Tampa the past two years.

Ironically, it’s safe to say Pat’s finest moment since signing with the Rays in January 2009 came on a glorious spring day in which he was a few hundred miles removed from his Rays’ teammates.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009: Burrell returned to Philadelphia to collect his 2008 World Series ring, and also received a tearful embrace from former Phils GM Pat Gillick and a roaring ovation from the 45,000 Citizens Bank Park fans drowning in ecstasy all around him (not to be taken literally).

But 2009 was by far Burrell’s worst season since 2003. Pat had just 14 HR, 64 RBI, and a .221 average in 122 games as a Ray.

He hasn’t exactly begun 2010 too well. Burrell is currently hitting .229 with two HR and 13 RBI.

In the AL, Burrell has exclusively been used as a DH, sharing time with Tampa’s Willy Aybar. Right now, Burrell’s a complete afterthought in one of baseball’s most dynamic lineups.

And of course, he wouldn’t be expected to put up huge numbers if he were to return to Philly. He would merely exist to break up the lineup’s string of lefties, thus hitting in the lucrative spot between Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez.

One small plus is that Pat’s career average against lefties is a respectable .266. His career average against righties is just .250.

Say what you want about Pat Burrell, but, like most Phillies on the current squad, he always makes opposing pitchers work. He is selective at the dish, and for years he helped the Phillies quickly elevate the opposing starter’s pitch count on a nightly basis. It’s worth mentioning because it’s pretty much his only similarity to Jayson Werth.

Actually, Pat was sometimes patient to a fault. His plate discipline could easily be interpreted as a relative lack of aggression. In 2005, Burrell finished second in the NL with 117 RBI despite leading the majors in being called out on strikes.

In ’05, a whopping 68 of Burrell’s 160 strikeouts came while window shopping at a called third. Honestly, there were times when it seemed he’d be trying to coax a walk with the game on the line instead of trying to deliver a clutch base hit.

Of course, Burrell also ranks second on the Phillies’ all-time list in strikeouts and fifth all-time in walks.

But still, bringing Burrell back is safe from a public relations standpoint.

Sure, Burrell got booed when things got tough here. But the Philly fans never spontaneously combusted on him the way they did two on his former teammates, the “so so” third baseman from Veterans Stadium and the right fielder who was allegedly afraid of the Citizens Bank Park out-of-town scoreboard.

Pat, if brought back, would be accepted by the fans. No question.

Rest assured, if Werth doesn’t return for 2011, the Phillies will have lots of potential replacement options.

So why shouldn’t Pat Burrell be one of them?

He wouldn’t put up all-star numbers, but he wouldn’t need to in this lineup. He’d just be a respectable, disciplined right-handed bat who would come at an absolute Dollar Tree price (by MLB standards).

If Jayson Werth walks, bringing Pat the Bat back in 2011 wouldn’t be a half-bad move.

People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry…

Slowly fade down music, fade up mic. Take it away, Dan…

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