'A roller coaster of a year' for Pat Burrell

ARLINGTON, Texas - Pat Burrell was soaked in champagne Monday night, but he had little to do with making the corks pop. Except for winning the World Series, really, he had a season to forget.

In fact, as Burrell waited his turn to touch the Commissioner's Trophy for the second time in 3 years, he had a hard time remembering the beginning of his climb from baseball's trash heap.

He beamed, exultant, a champion again, and he was asked to compare his feelings: June 1, digging in against Kevin Pucetas in Las Vegas, vs. his feeling exactly 5 months later, celebrating here on the field at Rangers Ballpark in Texas.

Burrell's eyes glassed a bit. He paused, and replied:

"I don't have the words to describe it," Burrell said. "At that point, I was doing anything I could do to get back to the major league level. I could have never anticipated being here."

On June 1, Burrell had just been signed off the street by the Giants. They assigned him to Triple A Fresno, where, the Giants hoped, he could find his stroke and, eventually, help their chronically poor offense.

The Grizzlies were on the road. Burrell faced Pucetas twice in his first at-bat, actually, since the first time he took his place in the batter's box a runner was thrown out to end the first inning. Burrell then led off the second with a single, the first of two hits in the inning.

Four days later, Burrell was a Giant. There, he doubled in his first at-bat.

His homer June 11 against Oakland put the Giants ahead for good in that game. It was the first of 18 he would hit for the Giants this season, a consistent, 4-month run at a .266 clip that ended in futility.

Burrell hit .143 with one homer and four RBI in 14 playoff games. He went 0-for-13 in the World Series with 11 strikeouts. He was benched in Game 4 on Sunday, returned as the designated hitter Monday in Game 5 . . . and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

It wasn't quite that bad.

Burrell ripped a ball to leftfield, the hardest hit ball off Cliff Lee until Buster Posey's drive ended the sixth inning.

"I thought I had something going," Burrell said. "Then, it went away."

Burrell looked bad in his next two at-bats against Lee, both strikeouts. So was his at-bat in the seventh, but it was better, and, maybe, it served a purpose. Edgar Renteria followed with a three-run homer.

With runners on second and third and one out - Aubrey Huff had bunted the runners over to set up Burrell - Burrell fought through a seven-pitch at-bat and saw all four of Lee's pitches, finally flailing at a nasty low cutter over the outside part of the plate.

"I had a pretty good at-bat there and didn't get it done. It's frustrating," Burrell said. "Edgar came in there and picked everybody up."

The purpose:

"He had a great at-bat in that at-bat, so I saw a lot of pitches," Renteria said. "I feel more comfortable when I see a lot of pitches, when he hit those foul balls."

So, there's solace in knowing the at-bat led to the win.

"You never know," Burrell said. "Hopefully, yeah. I'd like to think so."

In Burrell's mind, his job was not to get Renteria comfortable.

It was to win the game.

Well, that happened, anyway.

"I'll tell you what," Burrell said. "I've had a roller coaster of a year."

Somehow, at its end, he wound up on top . . . and on the bottom.



(philly.com)