Paul Hagen: Burrell unbelievably good in Rays' win over Phils

That's not the way the modern baseball player conducts himself, of course. So Burrell's actual comments after he played a big part in helping his new team, the Rays, defeat his old team, the Phillies, last night at Tropicana Field were far more vanilla.

"It's fun to compete against the team you've been on for a long time," was as far as he would go. "It's fun because I know the team and everything like that."

The funny thing, though, was that not even the people in his own clubhouse were completely buying it.

"I do believe there's an extra layer because he had been there so long, he has a lot of friends on that team and the game was being televised back to Philadelphia. He won't get into that, though," observed manager Joe Maddon.

Added third baseman Evan Longoria: "I'm sure it felt good for him . . . It probably feels a little better [than if it had happened against another team.]"

The story of how Burrell ended up leading a World Series parade down Broad Street one day and soon after found himself on the outside looking in on the only organization he had ever played for will probably never be fully told.

We can start with the presumption, though, that he sincerely wanted to stay right where he was. It was certainly preferable to changing leagues at the age of 32 and taking a job as a designated hitter, a role he never felt comfortable with.

There were reports, never confirmed, during the course of that championship season that the Phillies had telegraphed a willingness to re-up him for $11 million a year for the next two seasons and that Burrell signaled back that he was thinking bigger numbers.

It sounds plausible. Given the lack of righthanded power hitters around baseball, Burrell could well have been reluctant to accept a pay cut from the $14 million he was making and likely would have preferred a lengthier commitment as well. He also could have viewed it as the opening bid in what he imagined would be a series of give-and-take conversations.

Except that, from all accounts, there were no more negotiations. And while the Phillies publicly continued to maintain that they hadn't ruled out bringing him back, behind the scenes they moved quickly to wrap up free agent Raul Ibanez for more years (3) and a lot more money ($31.5 million) than they had been willing to spend to extend their longest-tenured player.

If nothing else, it certainly left room for suspicion that they feigned interest in re-signing Burrell for public relations purposes, mentioned a deal low enough to assure that he wouldn't take it and then zeroed in on their real target.

Now, even if all of the above is absolutely true, nobody can seriously fault the Phillies to this point.

Ibanez, even though presently on the disabled list with a groin injury, is almost a shoo-in to make the All-Star team, something Burrell never did. And even having missed a handful of games, he still went into last night third in the National League in home runs (22) and RBI (59).

Burrell, meanwhile, got off to a miserable start. He missed 29 games with a neck strain. He hadn't homered since the home opener, on April 13, and hadn't had an extra-base hit since May 2.

So it is plausible that, at some level, just having a productive game was enough. "It's just being back on the field and able to contribute and help us win. I think that's No. 1," he said.

Helping contribute to a 7-1 win over the Phillies had to make it even better, though.

With one out and Carlos Pena on first in the second inning, he connected on an 0-1 fastball off Phillies starter Joe Blanton. At the time it seemed curious that he would see a pitch he could extend his arms on when the book has always been fastball in/breaking ball away.

Blanton's explanation: He made a mistake. "I was trying to come in," he said. "I threw a good sinker in the pitch before and I tried to repeat it, almost even more for a ball. It didn't sink, so it was right down the middle and he jerked it."

Those were the only runs Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza had to work with until the Rays put the game away with a five-spot in the eighth. The first run scored when Burrell hit a slow grounder to second with the bases loaded. Ben Zobrist hustled to second and beat the flip from shortstop Jimmy Rollins to second baseman Chase Utley as Carl Crawford scored.

Three runs batted in. A big homer. Burrell said it didn't mean more because it came against the Phillies.

He may have even believed it. Not everybody did. *

Send e-mail to hagenp@phillynews.com