SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
He's not just Pat the Bat. He's Pat the Arm. And Pat the Clutch. Not to mention Pat the Been There Done That Clubhouse Guy.
Pat Burrell is finding his new baseball life in San Francisco a reawakening. Two years removed from winning a ring with the Phillies, he's a leading force in the Giants' pursuit of their first postseason in seven years, and he's doing big things at the right time.
Burrell was the difference-maker in Wednesday night's 5-4 victory over the Cubs, hitting an eighth-inning homer to break a tie, giving him game-deciding RBIs in four of the past six Giants wins. He also singled home two runs in the first inning and made a key defensive play.
"Given that opportunity to come here, I'm thankful for it," said Burrell, who joined the Giants on June 3 after Tampa Bay gave up on him. "To be able to contribute and get back into a pennant race, I really couldn't ask for anything more than that. I'm more than excited to be here, and hopefully we'll continue to roll."
Burrell is batting .348 in his last 15 games with 10 of his last 16 hits going for extra bases. His recent game-winning surge included a homer to beat the Dodgers, a sacrifice fly to beat the Braves, another sac fly to beat the Cubs and Wednesday's game-deciding shot.
Apparently, he's also making a difference off the field.
"You talk about his clubhouse presence," Barry Zito said. "He's got that young fire and veteran type of mentality. He wants it real bad, and that's what we need right now."
Zito was thankful of Burrell in two ways. Not just for the two-run single that highlighted a three-run rally in the first inning, but for the play he made in the second. He fielded Welington Castillo's double off the left-field wall and hurriedly threw to shortstop Juan Uribe, whose throw to the plate caught Blake DeWitt.
DeWitt, who recently joined the Cubs from the Dodgers, didn't slide and tried to take out Buster Posey, who held firm. Posey came out OK, but DeWitt cut his lip on Posey's mask.
"The guy tested him," Zito said.
Zito didn't hold the 3-0 lead. He surrendered a home run to Marlon Byrd, who sprinted the bases, apparently in a hurry to make his 11th homer official, and gave up two more runs in the sixth on a double by Xavier Nady and bloop single by Alfonso Soriano.
With the score 3-3, Aaron Rowand hit his 10th homer, but the Cubs quickly retied it when Tyler Colvin homered over the right-field wall off Zito, who got the hook and a no-decision. Colvin leads the NL in rookie homers with 18.
When Rowand homered, Burrell went nuts in the dugout in support of his old Phillies teammate, who no longer is the starting center fielder.
"It's always very difficult for someone like him who's an everyday player," Burrell said, "and to be in a situation where we're all trying to fight for playing time, to see him come up there was huge for us and huge for him."
He's Pat the pal, too.
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