NL Beast

How could the first post not be about Mr. Burrell?

Pat comes up clutch - again - driving in two in a monster spot in the 8th. This at bat speaks volumes about his his play this year. Comcast showed during they game he’s hitting around .500 with men on base and around .200 with them cleared. Oh, by the way, that was well before the game-winning double. .200 is not great by any means, but .500 with runners on is more than something to write home about. Man (?) on a mission.

Well, that’s men on a mission, actually. See: Mr. Utley. Utley and Burrell lead the league in OPS, 1.280 and 1.205 respectively. Burrell leads in RBI, 23, and Utley in dingers, 10. (For the record, think Utley is good? Consider this: ESPN showed that Utley has hit 10 homers in 23 games. Mike Schmidt, in 1976 did it in 12.) You are good Chase, but you are not legendary, yet.

Spreading this the sauce around, this game was a full team effort. Grandpa Moyer pitched stellar batting practice through 6+ innings. Tom Gordon comes in with men on the corners, loads them, and then proceeds to finish off the inning 1-2-3, preserving a 1-1 game - a run scored by by Jason Werth, hitting a make-up-for-last-night’s-awful-game homer to tie it up. Minor game sauce also given to Utley for a stellar play at second, and Romero for another shut down game, and Lidge for a quick and easy save. And hey, the Phils defense might be coming around….(I’m looking at you Mr. Bruntlett.)

Not deserving of any game sauce: Ryan Howard. Hey, we all feel bad for you at this point. But that last at bat was painful. Is Ryan Howard still the future of this team? Or does a certain 31 year old outfielder have his eyes on first base. Ask me in May. Ok, ask me in June…err, July.

(Pat Burrell Steak Sauce Night was a promotion thought of by an unnamed e-friend. A source of the same location produced this iconic gem)

-Greg Berlin