Pepper Allowed

Raise your hand if you'd rather see Pat Burrell come to bat two more times in an extra inning game than watch the guy who pinch-ran for him flail away? If Charlie can live with his defense and slow foot speed for the first seven innings he sure as hell can live with those qualities for the remaining five!

I'd bet anything his teammates would rather see Pat coming to bat.

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Speaking of pinch-runners, Eric Bruntlett continues to unimpress.. Saturday night he pinch-ran for Burrell and instead of tagging at second base on a deep fly to left center he played it half-way, which was a bonehead mistake. At worse the ball is caught at the fence; at best it bounces off the wall. He never advanced nor scored. This is not the first time Bruntlett has failed to run the bases well.

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Five of us attended Saturday night's game, my first live view of a Phillies-Mets game. My niece's husband, a native New Yorker and die-hard Mets fan, largely restrained himself throughout the proceedings though he had far more to cheer about. Overall, the crowd was civilized...even the other Mets fans, though one of those loud, look-at-me types was seated in front of us and jumped up every few minutes and played mostly to the crowd behind him. Still, the evening was pleasant except for the outcome. BTW, the "Let's go Mets" chants far outnumbered the "Let's Go Phillies" chants in number and volume.

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Ryan Howard's three-run homer Saturday may have tied the game but it was not sufficiently redemptive IMO following his latest errant throw, this time on a pick-off of Carlos Beltran by Jamie Moyer. The runs he cost his team still counted and in case you hadn't noticed, the Phils did lose.

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The Phillies bullpen has been nothing short of spectacular all season so it was painful to watch them blow two games this weekend. Tom Gordon was the most serious casualty of the group, going on the 15-day DL after Saturday night's struggle. Why is it that Gordon almost always goes on the DL after a rough outing?

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Burrell is one of five players who is in the running (pardon the pun) for last man to be named by the fans to the All Star game. Since the Mets David Wright is also on the ballot, population figures strongly suggest Burrell doesn't have much of a chance of be elected. Teammate and biggest NL vote-getter Chase Utley is pulling for Pat. Utley said he and all his friends were going to vote for Burrell. Thanks to MLB, they can do it 25 times each.

Burrell is deserving of a spot on merit this season, but he is also deserving if there is room in the vote for some sentiment. He has made a dramatic recovery over the last few seasons from the mierable years of the early 2000's. Yesterday's last AB in the game was a perfect example. Down in the count and facing a pitcher with a nasty slider, Burrell worked a walk. The old Burrell would have flailed away at the low and away pitches he took.