Burrell still trying to hit his stride - with his bat

ST. PETERSBURG - The question had to be asked:

Pat Burrell, how would Phillies fans be treating you in late June if you had hit one home run for them?

"Ohhhh," Burrell said with a grin. "I'd be a ... no, I'll reserve comment."

Burrell formed a love-hate with Philly fans. It ended in love. Here? He might have caught a break, seeing as you actually have to show up to boo. Tuesday, only 19,608 tromped into the Trop for the big World Series rematch between the Rays and the Phillies.

Burrell has yet to show up himself, at least the Bat who averaged 31 homers and 99 RBIs over the past four
seasons. It's never good when you can't tell when a guy is on the DL and when he isn't. Burrell is a nice enough fellow making $7 million his first season with the Rays, but he hasn't hit much of anything, including his stride.

"I better," Burrell said. "I better."

The accountability is refreshing, but even the arrival of his old ballclub, with whom he won a World Series championship with last October, couldn't quite rouse this sleepy giant. True, 29 games missed because of a neck injury and the transition to designated hitter can't have helped any kind of breakout. The Bat's not buying it.
"There are no excuses. I need to do a better job," Burrell said.

He's hitting .234 with 18 RBIs and that lonely homer, hit two months ago in the home opener. Pat Burrell has as many homers as Nyjer Morgan, Emilio Bonifacio and Josh Beckett. He has one more homer than me, you, your pool guy and your four cats.

Pat the Bust?

"Have I been successful? Absolutely not," Burrell said. "The only way I can look at it is the past is behind us, now it's moving on. I'm healthy. I'd like to be a factor in this offense."

Burrell's hasn't seemed an overriding concern this season, seeing as the Rays lead the majors in runs and there was his aching neck. And in an embarrassment like Tuesday's 10-1 loss - David Price and shaky defense gave up 10 runs inside four innings - the subject of Burrell coming around didn't come up much.

But I'm not seeing this team making big moves at the trade deadline. The answers will have to come from within. Burrell was the offseason move to shore up the lineup. He'll have to do that.

"I didn't start swinging the bat well, at all, really, the first part of the season, six weeks, I think it was," he said. "I need to get some consistent at-bats. I feel healthy. I feel good."

Rays teammates say Burrell brings a lot to a clubhouse. But the homers and RBIs are the bottom line.

"It'll happen," Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. "Maybe not 30 homers, but Pat will be there."

The worst thing Burrell has going for him might become the best thing he has going for him. The guy is pathologically streaky. In Philly, he started slow in 2007, finished big. In 2008, he started big, finished slow. If you take the end of 2007 and the start of 2008, make it one season, his numbers stack up against most anyone. That's the way the Rays have to look at it.

"He can get hot, very hot," Manager Joe Maddon said. "His numbers his whole career say so."

You'd hate to think the Rays got the 32-year-old Burrell just as he fell off a cliff. Two years at $16 million seemed like a bargain at the time.

Look, this team is going next to nowhere with starting pitching like Tuesday's. But there was some good news. Scott Kazmir apparently has his act together, and Akinori Iwamura might be back this season and Chad Bradford might soon return to the bullpen. B.J. Upton was just named AL player of the week.

And if Pat Burrell's bat wakes up one morning and carries this team for a while - well, it has to be part of the second-half equation, or even Rays fans might buy a ticket to boo.



(tbo.com)