Will Pat Burrell's critics ever be silent?

September 20, 2007 | By Michael Kotyk | Discuss

Poor Pat Burrell. He has been criticized by everyone from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the local TV stations, fans and even Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt; who was no stranger himself as a target of the Philly boo fans.

But let's take a look at our unsung hero.

When Ryan Howard slumped and then got injured, Pat helped carry the team. He has improved, somewhat, as a hitter this year. His stats below for the year (courtesy of ESPN):

G-137 AB-415 R-68 H-111 2b-24 3b-0 HR-28 RBI-90 SB-0 BA-.267 OBP-.409 SLG-.528

He is looking at a season of over 30 homeruns and perhaps 100 RBIs. Not bad and things could be worse: we could still have slow footed Bobby Abreu or, gasp, Von Hayes.

Pat's career BA is .250 with a .367 OBP and .485 SLG percentage. By numbers alone, he is having a banner year but yet his critics continue to pound him because he is not the next re-incarnation of Mike Schmidt or Greg Luzinski.

Perhaps that is because Schmidt and Luzinski not only had different styles than Pat but they also played during a different era as well. I think Philly fans need to lighten up a little bit and stop making absurd comparisons.

Then again, there were those early this season who thought that Ryan Howard was washed up and a bust too.

Where would we be without Burrell and his 28 HRs and 90 RBIs? Probably thinking about next year instead of being smack dab in the middle of a pennant race.

Burrell may not be the next Schmidt but he may be a Johnny Callison and I'll gladly take a Callison over the trickle of good outfielders available out there.

Submit your rants and articles to us at phillypurge@earthlink.net