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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Burrell arrives fit and optimistic

Posted Feb 22, 2010 by Tribune Sports

Updated Feb 22, 2010 at 01:33 PM

PORT CHARLOTTE - Looking rested and fit, designated hitter Pat Burrell met with the media (something he did infrequently last year) and said he’s ready to put last season behind him and help the Rays win this year.

Burrell, entering the second year, of a two-year , $16 million contract, hit only .221 with 14 homers and 64 RBIs last year. He had averaged 31 home runs and 99 RBIs the previous four seasons with the Phillies.

Here are some of the hightlighs of a media session that lasted about 20 minutes:

On what he did to relax during the offseason:

“Not a whole lot, I went back to Arizona and had a lot more time this offseason, obviously, as opposed to last year, I had a lot more time to get in shape and think about the year and make some adjustments. Spring training is not as long this year, too, so it seemed like I had a lot more time to relax and get ready.”

On a teammate’s comments about how hard he works out:

“I honestly think that the long season the year before and then the longer spring training with the WBC, … I just, and it’s no one’s fault but my own, but I just felt that I didn’t have as much time to get prepared. And that’s no excuse or anything like that, it’s the way it was. And I think I’m a lot more prepared this year as far as physically, and definitely mentally. It’s not a new team any more, and there’s not all the adjustments that come along with it. I know what I need to do and how to go about it.”

How he evaluates last season:

“Not a lot of good, I know that. I didn’t exactly start well, and being injured and stuff never helped things. I never really thought I got into a groove where I could have some prolonged success. I had some problems with the swing and far as mechanically and stuff. I was doing some things wrong, and to be honest with you, just couldn’t get hot. It’s frustrating especially with everything going on with the team, as far as beign new here, and new role and everything. It was a frustrating year all the way around. I just really worked on this year training and trying to get in the best shape, so hopefully I can eliminate the injuries. Because that’s the one thing that really sets you back.”

On whether adjusting to becoming a DH was more difficult than he expected:

“It was an adjustment but when you get in that batter’s box, you have a job to do. So as far as that’s concerned, it was the same. I think some of the down time in between is an adjustment, but I don’t think that was as big of an issue.”

On whether his disappointing numbers were due to American League pitching:

“I think it was 100 percent more me than anything else. I can see there are some tendencies you can learn about pitchers throughout the season, but I’ve played long enough to know that it still has to go across the plate. There’s a little bit of an adjustment, but more of it had to do with me personally. But I think another year will help. (Roy) Halladay is not in the mix anymore. (laughter). You’ve got to look for a couple positives.”

On whether his neck is healthy:

“I had some slight herniations in C5 and 6 that were just giving me trouble. I think the problem was I didn’t address it quick enough, and by the time we found out what was going on, in my opinion, I let it go too far. That’s obviously a mistake on my part. Now that we know what it is, it’s a lot easier to take care of problems health-wise when you know what they are and you know how tp prevent them. And that’s been a lot of what I’ve been doing in the winter is to put myself in a situation where that won’t happen again. That comes from therapy and stuff like that. In that sense, I’m real excited about that.”

- Tony Fabrizio