SF Favorite Pat "the Bat" Burrell retires.

With with two World Series rings, 292 homers, the former 1st overall pick of the 1998 draft calls it quits.

By Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY

Pat Burrell returned home with a battered reputation when he joined the San Francisco Giants in early June 2010.

Once a feared slugger and one of the top run producers in the National League, Burrell had been summarily dumped by the Tampa Bay Rays, who got a tiny return (a .218 batting average) on their $16 million investment in him and didn't care for his sour attitude.

A change of scenery clearly did wonders for Burrell, who attended high school in San Jose and was reunited on the Giants with old buddies Aubrey Huff and Aaron Rowand.

Burrell, who announced Monday he was retiring at 35 because of a chronic foot injury, teamed up with then-rookie Buster Posey to energize the Giants' sluggish offense, helping them clinch the NL West title and win their first World Series since moving to the West Coast in 1958.

"Pat the Bat'' delivered 20 homers and 64 RBI in two-thirds of a season for the power-starved Giants, repeatedly coming through in the clutch. Just as significantly, he became a clubhouse leader and a unifying presence, a prime example of the "castoffs and misfits'' manager Bruce Bochy said formed his tightly knit club.

Burrell also gained cult status of sorts as the suspected man behind the mask worn by the character Brian Wilson identified as "the Machine,'' a big fellow clad in a bondage outfit who appeared on the background as the Giants closer was doing a national TV interview. Burrell has never publicly acknowledged playing the role.

He certainly played a bigger role in the Giants reaching the World Series than winning it, as he went 0-for-13 with 11 strikeouts against the Texas Rangers, making him 1-for-27 in his two trips to the Fall Classic.

But his one hit was a seventh-inning double that turned into the winning run of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, the clincher for the Philadelphia Phillies as they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays.

Burrell hit 251 of his 292 career home runs with Philadelphia to rank fourth in the history of the club, which drafted him No. 1 overall in 1998. He played nine of his 12 seasons with the Phillies, and though he never was an All-Star, Burrell was a key figure in turning what was a last-place team when he arrived in 2000 into a perennial power.

"Congrats Pat B for a great career!'' Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino tweeted. "It was amazing being your teammate for all those years in (Philadelphia).''

Neukom asked to step down as Giants managing General Partner

According to Mark Purdy of the SJ Mercury News, Bill Neukom has been asked to step down ans the managing general partner by the Executive Committee of the Giants' ownership group.  Per the article, he was chastised by the committee for not running large spending by the group and not giving the whole ownership group credit for the teams success.  The word is that Larry Baer will step in as the CEO of the team and affiliated companies in the interim.


Until the team announces this publicly and more information about his removal is known, you can check out the article below.


http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_18895752

Who's ready to write off this season?

It looked like a great opportunity to go back and defend the title, until..

One injury after the other and dead bats from those playing.  Several of the guys playing are or have been playing hurt while the 20th player (not all of them unique) just went on the DL.  The D-Backs have been so-so, such that the Giants are only a couple of games back.  However, if they can't beat the Astro's how can the Giants beat anyone?

We know they can compete and win, with this team.  The first half showed just how grim things could get (players on and off of the DL then goes Buster Posey and Freddie Sanchez) and that thought it all, the Giants kept winning.  With the acquisition of Keppenger and Beltran, I think that the Giants could go on a tear if only Huff and Ross would heat up.  We miss Torres speed and bat and the bullpen has looked tattered over the last two weeks (after being so brilliant for so long), but can they over come?

Can we pull out a playoff spot?  If so, can the G-men compete?

I think they can, but will they?

Champions of the National League

That didn't exactly go according to plan, but it really couldn't go any other way.  This game went exactly like so many others this season.  Good hitting, but few hits with RISP; excellent bullpen support (including Bumgarner and Lincecum), a bomb by Uribe and too many runners allowed on base by Wilson who once again came through in the end.

My biggest concern when looking at the post game numbers were Posey.  He came up three times with 4 runners in scoring position with 2 outs each time, and did nothing each time going 0-4.  I hope this is not a sign of things to come in the next round.

The Giants were lauded by the National Sports media as undeserving because they didn't win the West, the Padres lost it, nor did they win the NLDS, the Braves were beat up and playing at half capability.  So what, I ask you is their excuse for the Phillies beat down?  The Phillies came into the NLCS with a team firing at full strength and as we have all heard a thousand time, on paper, were the best team in baseball. Opps, someone forgot to tell the Giants.  As I mentioned in my NLCS preview post, I thought the teams matched up well, especially if the giants pitchers could neutralize the Phillies sluggers and the Giants bullpen was up to the challenge, I would say they proved all series and especially last night, that they were.

The Phillies battled but just couldn't hit better than .209 with Utley and Howard being very ineffective.  All three of the Phillies starters took a loss (Oswalts was in relief) but the Giants got to every one last night with 3 runs on 13 hits. While the Phillies were 2 for 11 with RISP.

This team deserves to be in the World Series because they proved over and over again that they are the best team in the National League by beating the best teams in the National League.

Anyone have something to say about the World Series match up, comment.