CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
Just flew from Milwaukee to Philly to Pittsburgh, so this is my first chance to post today ...
Pat Burrell remains one of the hottest hitters in baseball, so I decided to have a few Phillies teammates answer the question on the t-shirts they received in spring training: Is Pat Burrell man or machine?
"He's a man that is a machine," Brett Myers said.
"Can't he be both?" Adam Eaton said. "It's an open interpretation."
"Both," Chris Coste said. "He's the perfect mix of both."
Like the Six Million Dollar Man?
"Fourteen," Coste said. "He's the Fourteen Million Dollar Man. And if he keeps up this pace, it'll be a hell of a lot more than that."
Great point. Burrell is a free agent after the season. The Phillies tried hard in previous off-seasons to trade Burrell, but had no luck. Burrell said in spring training he would love to come back. Pat Gillick doesn't negotiate with players until after the season, so although he's leaving after the season it seems unlikely the Phillies talk to Burrell about any potential return until the Phillies name a new general manager.
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In the Phillies Notebook, Ryan Howard talks about not being in the starting lineup yesterday and tonight in Pittsburgh and Tom Gordon has pitched very, very well since his disastrous appearance on Opening Day.
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Centerfielder Shane Victorino will continue his rehab assignment tonight in double-A Reading. Victorino, who has been on the DL with a strained right calf since April 12, began his rehab assignment Wednesday at single-A Clearwater and went 2 for 3 with an RBI, walk and caught stealing. He was 0 for 2 with a run, walk and strikeout last night for the Threshers.
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.
This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.
Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
To submit a question for Matt Gelb's Phillies mailbag, click here.
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