Vote Pat

Burrell deserves this. And there's still one door open.

by Brian Howard

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Published: Jul 9, 2008

There has been a tiny injustice. Major League Baseball's All-Star Game is next week, and Patrick Brian Burrell, the lumbering Phillies left fielder with the chiseled physique and big thunderbolt swing, is finally an All-Star. Well, he should be.

Despite having better numbers than all but one National League outfielder, Pat Burrell finds himself on the outside looking in. He was not voted to the All-Star team by fans (who choose the starters) nor by players and managers (who fill in the rest of the roster).

No, this is not a travesty worth losing sleep over. An inconsistent multimillionaire not being allowed to play in an exhibition game with fellow multimillionaires just isn't a cause you go marching for.

But hear me out. Pat Burrell deserves this. And there's still one door left open to make that happen (actually, there are two: He could always be added as an injury replacement).

As a quirk of its All-Star voting process, MLB leaves one roster spot open on each league's team and pits five players in popularity contests for each spot.

Pat Burrell is one of those five in the National League. And you have until 5 p.m. the Thursday this paper hits the stands to get over to mlb.com and vote for him. And you should.

This could be Pat Burrell's last year as a Phil. His six-year, $50 million contract expires at the end of the season and although he's undoubtedly the team's best outfielder, that hasn't always been the case. In his nine seasons in Philadelphia he's been benched, put on the trading block, booed mercilessly and put on the trading block again.

It's hard to remember at this point, but Burrell arrived as a savior. The first overall selection in the 1998 draft, Burrell came to Philadelphia the year after the team's famously doomed attempts to sign 1997 can't-miss first-round draft choice J.D. Drew. (Rather than sign here, Drew held out for a year and re-entered the draft.) The expectations foisted on Burrell were unreasonable. In 1999, then-mayor Ed Rendell told this paper that losing Drew was acceptable because "Burrell has the potential to be a better player." He was destined to disappoint.

Burrell has had amazing seasons (he's on pace for his fourth with more than 30 home runs and third with more than 100 runs batted in). He's had so-so seasons. And he had that one amazingly bad season (2003, the year he signed that big contract, saw him bat a craptastic .209). Though Pat can seem distant, like a brooding lumberjack, you never get the sense that he isn't bothered when he feels he's let down the fans.

Last season started like 2003 for Burrell. He hit a meager .215 with just 11 home runs before the All-Star break (the midpoint of a Major League season). He was in and out of the starting lineup. Fans, media and the front office appeared to have given up on him. Then something clicked. Since then he's turned his entire game around. Since July of last year he's hit (as of press time) .285, clubbed 41 home runs and driven in 114 runs. His reawakening has coincided with his team's most sustained run of championship-quality baseball since 1993. Which isn't to say that the team's success is dependant on Burrell's; it's just nice to see him as part of the solution.

None of that means he should be an All-Star.

Earlier this season, Burrell mentioned that he starts every season hoping that this will be the year he makes the All-Star team. He's received MVP votes in two seasons. He's never been an All-Star. (It's worth noting that J.D. Drew, Burrell's accidental nemesis, is making his own All-Star debut this year.)

Burrell has said that once his contract expires, he'd like to remain in Philadelphia. It's uncertain, however, given the type of money he might command, if that'll happen or if it'd even be wise (See: Rowand, Aaron).

Which is why now is the time, Philadelphia, to vote for Pat. You can say he hasn't given you everything you expected, but you can't say he hasn't given you a lot. Make him an All-Star on your watch.

(bhoward@citypaper.net) 

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