Sunday, June 25, 2006

READER POLL -- Should Myers have pitched?

Should the Phillies have allowed Brett Myers to pitch Saturday in Boston?

All weekend in the Fenway Park press box, that has been the hotly debated subject. Several fellow scribes, including Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe and esteemed Inquirer columnist Jim Salisbury, were vehemently opposed to Myers pitching and heavily criticized the Phillies in print.

Personally, I think the Phils should've benched him, or maybe more appropriately, allowed him to return home to sort out whatever personal problems he and his wife, Kim, are obviously having. Since Myers hasn't been convicted on the charges of domestic assault and battery, the players' union would've objected had the Phils tried to suspend him. Sitting him or sending him home would've been the next-best things.

Phillies GM Pat Gillick said Myers is "our best pitcher" and that it was "in the best interests of the ballclub" that he make his scheduled start Saturday, about 36 hours after his arrest. To that I say, why? If Myers had thrown a no-hitter against the Red Sox, the Phillies still would've been 10 games behind the first-place Mets. It's not exactly like they're fighting for a division title right now.

I'm curious to know what you think.

You can post responses to this blog, or if your prefer, please e-mail me at slauber@delawareonline.com.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't care how good of a pitcher he is, the Phillies should not have allowed him to pitch. A positive note was the Boston Redsox fans, true baseball fans boo'ed him.
Anonymous - PD17

Anonymous said...

Morality and ethics left the sporting business a long time ago. Gillick is an ass for his comment about the fact that it is best for the team if he pitches. Sounds like a GM who is afraid of losing his job. Prediction - he will fire Manuel (good) within a month so he can show the owners he is doing something.