PHILADELPHIA - There is a guy
who sits 12 rows back in the leftfield bleachers
who has, during the years, embraced Pat Burrell
like a brother, kicked him around like a dog, and
now loves him like an old army buddy again. Anyone
who has sat back there on Sunday afternoons has
heard him, has laughed with him and now, laughs at
him.
Because he is us. In a nutshell. And we are, in this
town, very much like the stuff inside those nutshells.
We love our stars here, we hate our stars here, we
argue the degrees of their worthiness and we are as
nutty about it as that green thing that dances atop the
dugout.
That said, there has never been a player like Pat
Burrell in this town. No one has been loved, loathed
and loved again the way he has, at least while wearing
a hometown uniform the entire time.
And so there they were again Thursday night, as Burrell
trotted to his spot after his sixth-inning laser of a
home run into those very seats provided the winning run
in the Phillies’ 3-2 victory over the Dodgers in
Game 1. Some were cheering. Some were downright
worshipping. The guy 12 rows back was probably doing
what he always does, cracking funny.
"You see that?" asked Jimmy Rollins, laughing.
"They’ve been doing that for a while. They get
the Pat Burrell standing ovation going every time he
does something spectacular. But at the same time when
he isn’t doing something spectacular, I turn
around. Because some of the things they say make me
laugh."
"And he’s just sitting there putting his hands up
like, ’What can I do?’ "
Here’s what Burrell didn’t do. He
didn’t demand a trade. He didn’t lash out
at the fans, call us names back, names like
"front-runners." He never spoke obscenely about our
relationships with cousins and siblings. Recalling his
famous blow-off of manager Larry Bowa after that home
run at Shea, it was funny to see the two men shake
hands and embrace before Thursday night’s game.
Columnist Bill Conlin, sitting to my right, said Del
Ennis was loved and hated before he was dealt to St.
Louis, and that Dick Allen went love-hate, love-hate in
his two stints here. There have been many others who
have started out loved and ended up hated, and there
have been many, many, many who were shipped out once it
got ugly.
See Scott Rolen.
Largely because of that big contract he signed after
Rolen’s exit, Burrell has hung around long enough
to change our minds. And maybe his mind warmed to us a
little, too. For the second playoff game in a row, he
did something else that he didn’t used to do. He
let us in, he let us share his joy, he seemed genuinely
appreciative of the towel-waving love that cascaded
down from the 45,839 at Citizens Bank Park.
Real emotion poured from him in the Milwaukee clubhouse
the other day, and you could see the glee as he rolled
past third base Thursday night.
"I don’t know if I feel it with him but I’m
definitely happy for him," Rollins said. "It’s a
situation where he’s going to have to do that.
And he knows that."
Said Burrell: "These games get so magnified. One at-bat
can change things."
The Phillies will face an interesting decision in the
offseason. That, in itself, is remarkable, as
remarkable as the fans’ turnaround, and not
unrelated to it. But it starts with the bat, starts
with a poise that has been forged through some tough
times here. It would be amazing to think, really, that
he could play in this uniform his whole career.
"He’s showing that he’s a big-time player,"
Rollins said. "And that always helps when teams are
deciding whether to bring you back. How are you at
crunch time."
Yeah, well, it’s more than that. There is talk
that the Dodgers will let Manny Ramirez [stats] walk
after this season, rather than risk the deterioration
of popularity he underwent in Boston and Cleveland
before that. There was once that sense with Pat
Burrell, too, and not too long ago.
But to watch the towel-wavers out there Thursday night,
he’s reversed that dynamic in a way that some
famous homegrown stars never could.
Charles Barkley walked. A.I., too. This? This is
something we’ve never seen in this town before.
And thankfully, it’s denting our reputation as
unforgiving souls.
(bostonherald.com)