Pat The Bat

For Pat Burrell, the longest-tenured Phillie, October usually found him and his mates standing on the outside looking in, so it wasn't surprising to see him leading the charge out of the dugout last October when the Phils clinched the division title and finally made it to the post-season for the first time in 14 years.

This season Burrell was again in the thick of the celebration when the Phils made it two division titles in a row, but he could be forgiven for feeling frustrated and disappointed at his meager contributions down the stretch.

Yesterday, all shortcomings were forgiven and all failures forgotten as Burrell blasted two home runs to power the Phillies to a 6-2 victory over Milwaukee clinching the division series and propelling them into the National League Championship series against the Dodgers. After the game, Burrell expressed gratitude to his manager for sticking with him through mostly thick. Personal redemption was sweet but collective success was sweeter as Burrell also praised his teammates.

As the senior member of the nucleus of home-grown stars about whom so much has been expected and, heretofore, by whom so little had been achieved, Burrell is in the delicate situation of perhaps playing his last games in a Phillies uniform. But those decisions will come later; for now, he is relishing the moment and preparing for the next challenge. And make no mistake about it, the Dodgers present a challenge with their strong pitching and own nucleus of young stars and seasoned veterans.

The most surprising development on the Phillies this season was the overall pitching. Everyone expected them to hit, but despite leading the league in home runs, the offense was otherwise erratic. No regular hit .300. Many went through protracted slumps. Without the long ball runs were hard to come by. Perhaps no one personified these struggles better than Jayson Werth, who slumped badly through September, looked absolutely awful at the plate at times in this series, but still managed to collect several extra base hits including a home run yesterday.

Pitching, on the other hand, began the season with a lot of question marks but came on very strongly by mid-season, especially the bullpen. By the end of the season, the starters and bullpen were the team's strength...apart from Ryan Howard.

The series just concluded exemplified this new order of things. The Phils received virtually no production from the middle of their lineup save Burrell's outburst on Sunday. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley were nearly invisible. The starters, on the other hand, were dominant save Jamie Moyer's somewhat shaky start on Saturday. Cole Hamels was magnificent. Brett Myers recovered from a poor opening inning to pitch very well. What can we say about Joe Blanton's performance on Sunday? Outwardly if not inwardly, Blanton is the least emotional of all four starters. He works quickly and efficiently, expending little apparent energy. He didn't try anything fancy versus a slumping but dangerous Brewers' lineup; instead, he went right at them and said, here it is, hit it. When they weren't flailing away some of the Brewers did indeed hit the ball hard, but right at people.

Blanton started the game with a one run lead thanks to, who else?, Jimmy Rollins' leadoff home run. That was all the big righthander needed as he mixed three or four pitches effectively to keep the Brewers and their noisy fans largely silent. Until Burrell launched a Jeff Supan pitch deep into left field, the Phillies clung to their one run lead. Werth followed with a home run to centerfield and suddenly the Phils were up 5-0 and this fan was probably one of thousands counting the number of outs the Brewers had remaining. Burrell, however, wasn't quite done for the day. Normally, he might have been lifted for defensive purposes by the eighth inning with the Phils leading, but he was still in the lineup long enough for one more long ball.

Redemption was indeed sweet, not only for the "old man" on the club but for all of us who suffered with him through the many disappointments and frustrations. A tip of the hat to Pat the Bat.