Utley, Burrell Leading MLB Power Categories
With the game tied in the top of the eighth yesterday, Pat Burrell came to the plate with two men on, and you just knew he was going to come through. That's the way things have been going for the Bat lately, and he and Chase Utley have combined to lead the majors in home runs, RBI, and slugging percentage so far. Chase leads the league with 10 homers, followed by Pat at 8; The Machine is first in RBI with 25, and Chase is in a three-way tie for second with 21. The pair also share the top slots in slugging percentage, with Utley in first at .835 and PTB in second at .750. Who leads the league in OPS? You guessed it. Utley (1.288) and Burrell (1.224).
Chase is also second in the bigs in batting average at .385, and Pat comes in at ninth (.355). Not a bad little April for the Phillies sluggers, and it's taken some of the pain away from not having the 1 and 2 hitters in the lineup. Now if only Ryan Howard could muster anything resembling his MVP swagger...
7 years of misery with Pat, but now he's at least EARNING the massive contract he got.
Posted by: The Polish Punch | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 10:28 AM
in my house we call them "Chase the Base" and "Pat the Bat"... now we just need someone whose name rhymes with "ball" and "glove"... yes, Chase the Base is silly and we laugh at it every time.
Posted by: Not a fan of five | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 10:33 AM
my friends and i call pat; pat 'the feet' because of his outstanding athleticism.
also, rhrh [ryan home run howard]
Posted by: rocco baldelli | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 10:44 AM
"Now if only Ryan Howard could muster anything resembling his MVP swagger..."
or the swagger of an everyday player
Posted by: rosco | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 10:58 AM
@ The Polish Punch
Really? 7 Years of misery are you kidding me? I am sorry but take a look at his numbers, because you Pat Burrell haters need to get a damn clue. He had ONE BAD SEASON! (2003) Here are the numbers for you folks:
Pat Burrell's "7 years of misery"
2007: 30 HR 97 RBI .256 BA .400 OBP
2006: 29 HR 95 RBI .258 BA .388 OBP
2005: 32 HR 117 RBI .281 BA .389 OBP
2004: 24 HR 84 RBI .257 BA .365 OBP
2003: 21 HR 64 RBI .209 BA .309 OBP
2002: 37 HR 116 RBI .282 BA .376 OBP
2001: 27 HR 89 RBI .258 BA .346 OBP
Posted by: DLo34 | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 11:06 AM
The question has been answered: machine.
Posted by: Justin Evans | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 11:40 AM
DLo kicks ass!
Posted by: bboova | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 11:43 AM
@Justin Evans: Well played.
Posted by: Dubs | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Kudos on the copy and paste job DLo, but stats don't show Pat Burrell watching hundreds of called third strikes roll right down the center of the plate over the past 7 years. Maybe they weren't miserable, but he certainly wasn't playing to his potential.
Posted by: Gaze | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 12:19 PM
My only argument with Burrell in the past was that he always seemed to get his hits when the Phils were up by 5 or when there was no one on base. His numbers with RISP before last season weren't very good...and the Burrell "curl," when he would strike out was as excruciating to watch as Howard flailing away now. I always liked him and he put up, good, consistent numbers aside from that one, down season--but not when the Phillies really needed him to.
Posted by: doubleh | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 01:14 PM
Not sure what you mean by the Burrell "curl" but perhaps it's what my friends and I refer to as the Burrell "ass-blast"? (when he squats unecessarily low for a pitch belt high. i.e. "Pat Burrell ass-blasted his way into a walk"
Posted by: BCapp | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 01:19 PM
@BCapp--when Burrell would look at a called third strike on the inside by pulling his hands in and throwing his ass out simultaneously like he was doing the cha-cha at the plate. He doesn't do that anymore, thank all that's holy.
Posted by: doubleh | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 01:28 PM
This was up on CuseAdelphia already.
Posted by: Phil | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 02:09 PM
This is not to say anything bad about CuseAdelphia, which I'm sure is a fine blog, but I hope you're not insinuating we stole their material or even saw it before posting this. I saw it on both Comcast and ESPN today, and compiled the numbers using ESPN's sortable stats, same as I always do for stuff like this.
Posted by: Matt P. | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 02:19 PM
Oh no, I'm sorry if I made it sound like you stole it from them. I meant like you could put the link at the bottom of the post for more on it. I still come here first for Philly stuff, but I read them also and was saying I saw there first.
I'm sorry for the confusion.
Posted by: Phil | Friday, April 25, 2008 at 02:52 PM