Pat Burrell News

Is Milton Bradley still here? Yeah, and he's holding up some of the decisions the Cubs might make as the hot-stove season gets started in earnest with the general managers meetings this week at the O'Hare Hilton.

Jinx, schminx. The Phils are going to win this thing, and the city needs to get ready.

According to a St. Petersburg Times / Miami Herald/ Bay News 9 poll, 54 percent of Floridians strongly support or somewhat support oil drilling 3 to 10 miles off the coast.

The Rays liked how he hit , how he played defense, how he ran, how he prepared, how he hustled, how he set a good example for the young players.

Jimmy Rollins still loves a microphone, even if it means airing a little of the Phillies' dirty laundry in the process.

Today, the Orlando Tuskers of the fledgling United Football League will work out at Tropicana Field in preparation for Friday's game there against the Las Vegas Locomotives.

Can you please tell me why we bother shopping for a closer when we have J.P. Howell? I thought Howell did a fantastic job this year with the closer role and should be our full-time closer.

In advancing to the World Series for the second consecutive season, the Phillies have ridden a postseason run of success never before seen from a National League club.

This didn't have to happen for the Phillies , this return to the World Series, and all those people telling you to savor these moments because they are rare and fleeting are correct.

Phillies fans are going to hate this. They're going to hate me for saying it. And they shouldn't. Here goes: The National League still isn't anywhere near as good as the American League.

I like the Rays bullpen, but they need to add a closer or add two more good arms or both.

Trading LHP Scott Kazmir to the Angels was about the money, in that it allows the Rays to keep the core of their team together for 2010 and helps going forward with Carlos Pe?a, and Grant Balfour headed toward 2011 free agency.

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man" - William Shakespeare's Hamlet Teams often experience mirages and misinterpretation when they determine whether they should buy more, sell more, or do a mixture of both at the conclusion of each season.

There he was waiting for anyone to grab him. He was just sitting there, waiting for someone to make an offer.

Three and a half hours before game time the 37-year-old leftfielder with barely measurable body fat quickly pulls on his Phillies uniform, and he's off and running.

The idea of a Pat Burrell-for-Milton Bradley trade has been kicking around for a few weeks now, since the Cubs got so sick of Bradley's antics they send him home early to get him out of their clubhouse.

Rays officials say they will work diligently throughout the offseason pursuing free agents and considering trades to improve their bullpen.

They were better offensively than the team that reached the World Series in 2008 and, in some areas, better on the mound, too.

Having reached what for most was the pinnacle of their athletic careers a season ago, the disappointment of finishing a distant third and well out of the playoff race in 2009 was profound for the Rays.

As the Rays head into the final weekend of the season after Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Orioles , there are some questions - beyond what might have been had Carlos Pe?a's left hand not been broken the last time they faced CC Sabathia - that may never be answered.