For any given baseball season there are good players and there are great players. The good players have either mediocre seasons, or a great month or two of their season and then fade for the rest of the year.

Great players on the other hand are able to rise above slumps.. Transcend weak batting months, and overcome a rough week or two. Pat is currently in a slump.. and as such the phillies are in a slump as well.

Is Pat not the definition of a Most Valuable Player to his team? For the past 2 months, as Pat performed, so has performed the Phillies. He has carried this team to wins, hit game winning Home Runs, had clutch at bats whic tied up the game to put his team in a position to win. And with Pat struggling this past week, the rest of the team has subsequently slumped.. but I think a Burrell resurgence is on the horizon.

Chase Utley has been phenomenal this season as well.. With both Burrell and Utley showing stellar performances thus far this year the race for the MVP will be even more exciting. It will help to propel Burrell into orbit as he strives to outperform Utley. And what do you say about Larry Jones and his .400+ batting average? Dont worry.. he’s Chipper.. he’ll get injured, he always does.

I’d say all three.  The 2008 NL MVP Pat Burrell demonstrates his ability to manipulate the physical world with his mind.  Pat doesn’t simply “pick up” a bat, he attracts it to his hands through sheer willpower and determination.  The home runs, RBIs, and perfect fielding percentage certainly fuel the man or machine discussion. However, this picture offers more insight into Pat’s uncanny baseball prowess and perhaps helps to explain how he can carry the Phils on his burly (ha!) shoulders.

Sunday, May 4^th, 2008, 1:35pm EDT…  The crowd fills Citizens Bank Park to sell-out capacity on a beautiful afternoon.  Why did they go to the park that day?  To watch Pat Burrell teach another session in “how to hit a baseball” would be my guess.  It appears that Burrell’s abuse of opposing pitching is not going to end any time soon, as he put in yet another superb performance at the plate on Sunday.  Pat started the day by crushing a leadoff double to the wall in the second; a double that was hit so well that Pat actually walked from home to second without a throw.  He continued to showcase his skills by hitting another double in the third, this time scoring 2 RBIs to put the Phillies in the lead 2-0.  In the fifth, Pat stepped up to the plate again, but this time he got the respect he deserves by receiving an intentional walk.  It looks like the Giants have come to understand the greatness that is Pat Burrell.  Not only is Pat receiving respect from the Giants, but he is also starting to turn around the Philadelphia fans.  No more boos for Burrell in the City of Brotherly Love.  The same people that ridiculed Pat for his performance the past few seasons are now starting to get on the Burrell band wagon.  Fans have decided to redirect their scorn at the struggling Ryan Howard and are now cheering for Burrell when he steps up to the plate each at bat.  I even caught a fan saying “You know, we should trade [first baseman Ryan] Howard while we can still get something for him and then move [the Amazing Pat “the Bat”] Burrell to first base and have him bat cleanup.”  With that kind of fan support, Burrell is a shoe in for the mid-summer classic.

Good weekend for the phils, taking 2 of 3 games against the giants.

A good weekend for Burrell as well as he put up 4 RBI’s, 1 Home Run and 2 Doubles. Burrell has continued his hot start of the season into May. With the type of numbers he’s putting up he’s a shoe in for the All-Star game, the first step on his road to his MVP trophy. Make sure you click the link at the top of the page, to vote for Burrell for this years All-Star game.

Phils Vs. Diamondbacks Burrell Preview:

This week Pat and the Phils take on the Arizona D-Backs with some of the hottest arms in the majors. Pat has a .185 average against the DBacks lifetime. He has not faced Monday’s starting pitcher Max Scherzer, but he has faced Randy Johnson, tuesday’s starter, 26 times with a HR and 3 RBI’s. Pat has struck out 12 times to Johnson with a career batting avg of .211 against him. He has not fared much better against Wednesday’s starter, Micah Owings, with only 1 walk and 0 hits in 6 plate appearances against him.

Hopefully Pat’s rebirth at the plate over the past year or so will change his fate against the D-Backs this week.

With those words, the greatest announcer of the greatest game, gave the call of yet another Pat Burrell game winning Home Run. Pat battled San Francisco’s hard throwing Brian Wilson (not the Beach Boy) who regularly hit the upper 90’s on the radar gun, to a full count after jumping ahead 3-0. Pat who was given the green light, took 2 ferocious cuts at the 4th and 5th straight fastball of the at bat, and then took the 6th pitch, also a fastball, deep into the left field bleachers.

Pat, ever the modest one… gave credit to his fellow mvp candidate Chase Utley, “it dosent happen if Chase dosent get on base”.

Yet Pat said it all in his post game comments.. “I was letting it rip man…”.

Yes Pat.. you were letting it rip.. and you’ve been doing so all season. Keep it up man.

Sorry for the break in posting. It’s been a quiet weekend on the Burrell Front. Burrell has ratcheted down his production for the end of april, as he prefers to allow his teammates the spotlight on weekend games. But he came back full force last night with a game tying double to help the phils overtake the rubber match vs the padres and move into 1st place in the NL East.

We here at burrellmvp.com liken Burrell to a cobra.. coiling and biding his time before striking at the throat of the MVP trophy competition and put it down for the count.

On his road to excellence this season, Pat has made a strong case in a fantastic April for his first All Star appearance. So make sure you Vote For Pat for the all star game!

Quick Update on Burrell and the Phils… playing padres tonite at CBP. More to come after the game.

Plus All Star Balloting has begun for the 2008 season.. Burrell is a leading favorite to start left field at the mid-summer classic.. Vote Today!

All Star Ballot

Pat the Bat put in another stellar performance this afternoon in an early game vs the Brewers as the Phils split the series in Milwaukee.

Burrell hit a game winning double which drove in 2 RBI’s to break a 1-1 tie in the 8th inning.

This increased Burrell’s commanding lead in RBI’s to 25 passing Von Hayes for the Phillies franchise record in RBI’s in the month of April.

Pat also picked up an Outfield assist in the game, throwing out Corey Hart (not the 80’s heartthrob) at 3rd.

This spring training the Phillies sported T-Shirts featuring this portrait of Pat Burrell with the caption ‘Man or Machine?’. On the back was the phrase “WINNING STARTS NOW.”

Could this T-Shirt be foreshadowing to Pat’s MVP Trophy or an attempt at a career move at the end of the season? You be the judge.

If the half naked men T-Shirt strategies could work for Burrel then perhaps Howard, Bruntlett, and even Charlie Manuel should all get to stripping in the clubhouse.

After a stirring finish to last nights game (read colin’s post from last night if you havnt yet… poetic burrell brilliance) Pat and the Fightins’ take on the Brewers in the first game of a short 2 game series in Milwaukee . Pitching for the brew crew is David Bush, who has taken a beating from Pat in the past.

Burrell is hittig .429 off Bush in 8 plate appearances with a 2 Home Runs and 4 RBI’s. Bush’s 6.23 ERA against the Phils bodes well for the ball club.

Pat has hit 7 HR’s against the Brewers with a 1.037 OPS lifetime. Expect Pat to continue his tear against this team.