Pat Burrell was one of the most popular players to put on a Phillies uniform in some time. GM Ruben Amaro decided to “upgrade” that position with Raul Ibanez so Pat signed with the Rays. Since Pat had no real success with the Rays and Ibanez had a good half season with the Phils, it looked like it might have been a necessary evil.

Since I reached that conclusion, two things have happened. One was the slump that Ibanez suffered. It lasted about an entire season over two years but it might be over now. Secondly, Pat was released by the (Stupid) Rays and claimed by the Giants. As soon as he put on that Senior Circuit uniform, “Pat the Bat” was back. Some guys need time to adjust to hitting in a different league and it looks like that was Pat’s problem.

We will have a series in order to gather some more evidence on Ruben Amaro’s job performance. Will Ibanez or Burrell leave their mark on the series? It’s hard to say since they have such similar records in recent years. It’s even harder to say because each will be one of eight position players out there. I’d be surprised to get a definitive answer but I can’t say that I’d be disappointed in Burrell hit about eight homers in a losing effort compared to no hits for Ibanez. I suspect that we will learn that they are too similar to call Ibanez an upgrade.

Tonight will also feature the return of Chase Utley to the lineup. As I suspected last week, Ryan Howard is not quite ready despite being close. Chase appears to be as ready as he can be but the question is whether this will be the Chase who slumped nearly all season or the Chase who went on a very short tear before getting injured.

No matter what he does at the plate, I can’t help but expect to see a vast improvement in infield defense. With the exception of Ryan Howard and the grenades he lobs from first to second, we should have all of our infield starters for one game anyway. It might take a few games for Chase and Jimmy to start making those “no-look” flips that let them turn improbable double plays. That’s okay. The spectacular will come back as long as they start off getting the routine stuff right.

Oh, no! According to this article, Chase doesn’t have final medical clearance to play tonight. The doctor they interviewed believes that he needs more at-bats before returning to the MLB level. I will feel ridiculous if the team sources that the Phillies’ website and I believed were wrong. If I read something in one place, I tend to ignore it. If I read it in several reliable sources, I will write about it as very likely to be true. Somewhere in between, there are things that I will report as rumor.

Utley or no Utley, this should be an interesting game. Pat Burrell’s homecoming game will be a pitching matchup between Barry Zito and Roy Oswalt. Oswalt is coming off his first good performance as a Phillie. Zito might not be the pitcher he was with Oakland but he is still dangerous. Most interestingly, this series will determine which team has the Wild Card lead.

So…why Pat Burrell? Why do I get so excited to see a good but not elite power hitter? Why do I like to watch him play left field? Some of it is nostalgia and I’ll admit it. Pat played for the team when it was bad but showing potential and he played for the team when we won the 2008 World Series. With the exception of 2002, the team improved every year that Pat played on the team. When Amaro let him go, the team took its first step backward by losing to the Yankees.

I remember when Pat gave up his college position of third base because the future traitor, Scott Rolen, played there. Pat hit certain teams better than anyone else. The Mets fans would flock to see games at the Vet in their thousands and Pat would make them miserable. I loved it. He also hit the Braves back when it seemed impossible. Yes, Pat struck out a lot. That just made the game winning homers in the bottom of the ninth that much sweeter.

It makes no sense why Amaro didn’t pick Burrell up off the waiver wire. All it took was a return to a familiar league for him to start hitting again. Could you imagine if he got to play his home games at Citizens Bank Park? I don’t think we’d have suffered through quite so many 1-0 losses. Could you picture a platoon of Ibanez and Burrell playing left field with both of them in their hot half of the season?

Since I have no love for Roy Oswalt, I can hope for a high scoring game. How about Phillies 10, Pat Burrell 9?

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