It's bat or bust time for Rays' Burrell

CLEARWATER - Pat Burrell was at an old haunt Tuesday, patrolling, if you can call it that, left field in a spring game with Phillies fans at his back.

Some blew boos, but others blew love, remembering The Bat at the head of the parade as the Phillies celebrated their World Series win against the storybook Rays.

Then Burrell switched stories and got lost in translation. He was a designated disaster in Tampa Bay.

It was a season that never got started, an aching neck that shelved him for a month, countless miserable at-bats, and in the end nothing but .221, 14 homers, 64 RBIs. Burrell became the signature punch line and punching bag for Rays fans, who don't pack a wallop like the Phillies faithful, but boos are boos.

"Well, I deserved it," Burrell said. "If you're getting paid all this money to do your job, if you can't do it at the level you're supposed to be doing it, people have the right to their opinion. Nobody gets a hall pass. I never have."

He came to camp slimmed down and ready.

"I've got to do a better job," Burrell said.

"I do know he's very motivated," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Burrell went 0-for-2 Tuesday in Clearwater. He is batting .188 this spring with one home run. There is no way around the fact that Pat must be The Bat again or he will live in Rays infamy. Oh, and the 33-year-old Burrell might not be able to find another job. Ask unemployed Jermaine Dye about that.

The Rays tried to unload The Bat and his $9 million salary in the offseason, even for head case Milton Bradley, but the deal didn't go through.
So Burrell has to come through.

He has to hit. That's the only reason he's here - not for presence, not for his fading glove, not for his morgue-like speed. He hits or he's nothing to the Rays.

His employer would happily settle for one season of the numbers Burrell averaged over the four seasons before he joined the Rays - 31 homers, 99 RBIs. They'd settle for 25/75 at this point.

What can't happen is what happened last season, when Burrell, B.J. Upton and Dioner Navarro's bats routinely represented three outs.
Some of Burrell's numbers defied description, if not laughter. His average was the lowest among American-Leaguers with at least 450 plate appearances. He had career lows in homers, RBIs and doubles. This righty didn't hit one home run against lefties, batting .202 against them. He went 1-for-16 with the bases loaded.

"I didn't even know some of that," Burrell said. "Those are for you guys. But when you hit .215 or whatever it was, it's hard to find something good about it."

Fans didn't. Media didn't.

Maddon, ever the optimist, sees light at the end of Burrell's tunnel.

"He's got quickness with the bat. He's just cutting underneath the ball a little bit. So we're going to work to get that to stop happening."

Burrell says he has tinkered with his stance, trying to get in a better position to hit. He thinks he's way ahead of last season, timing wise.

"I think I just started out with bad habits last year, and some injury related stuff," he said. "And it just carried on. During the season, it's real hard to make changes."

He was at the head of a parade in 2008.

Now he's all but at the back of the line.

Burrell thought of shelved bats, like Jermaine Dye.

"I have no idea what's going on out there," he said. "All I know is you want to play well and have a job or the opportunity to have another job. I need to play up to my capabilities for me, for everyone."

Feels like last licks.



(tbo.com)