Pat Burrell performed as anticipated last night, stuttering a bit before continuing to display the hottest bat in the Phillies lineup, and arguably in the Major Leagues. Shut down by Chacon for the majority of the game, Pat’s Bat came alive in the 9th against the Astro’s bullpen. Chacon struck out Burrell twice and got him to fly out to his former teammate Micheal Bourn in the bottom of the 5th. Pat looked more like Pedro Cerrano than an MVP candidate up until his 9th inning at bat, but he then would remind us of why some question whether he’s Man or Machine…

In the bottom of the 9th, trailing by 2, Pat tied it up with a 2 run blast to right field against the closer Valverde. Pat drove the ball to the opposite field, a sight rarely seen from Pat in the past, tying him for 2nd in the league in both HR’s and RBI’s and extending his lead in Slugging and OPS. Pat’s recent display of late inning clutch performances is going to start people thinking he stole David Ortiz’s mojo.

Just as impressive as his play is his enthusiasm for his fellow teammates. Pat was one of the first out of the dugout to congratulate Jenkins after scoring, portraying shades of the NL Clinching celebration from last September. We love to see that type of emotion out of Burrell. It’s this passion for the game that convinces us he’s more then just a homerun hitting machine.

Pats Line for last night:

Tonights Matchup:

Pat tonight faces another Houston starter of which he has had little success against. Pat is a career 0-9 against Roy Oswalt with 2 walks and 3 Strikeouts. He hasnt faced oswalt since 2005 however, so here’s hoping he can step up his game. Again we should hope for Oswalt to be out of the game early so that Pat can continue to beat up on the Astro’s bullpen.