July 20 -- HAS MYERS FOUND HIS MOJO?

"It's good to see some old faces that you didn't see in a while, to have them tell you, 'What the hell is wrong with you? This is the way you used to be.' When they tell you that, it opens your eyes a little bit and you go, 'What the heck have I become?'
- Brett Myers

MIAMI -- And what, exactly, had Myers become?

"You can't print it," he said.

Myers returned to the Phillies' clubhouse yesterday and spoke, quite honestly, about his three-week stint in the minors. He agreed to the assignment because he wanted to fix his mechanics and recover his fastball, and that probably wasn't going to happen amid the constant scrutiny of the majors. In his last start, Friday night at single-A Clearwater, he said he threw nearly 70 percent fastballs. In an earlier start at triple-A Lehigh Valley, he recalled being frustrated about not being able to finish off hitters early in the game with his fastball. Later, after Myers had settled down and pitched well, Lehigh Valley pitching coach Rod Nichols told him that particular opponent was a good fastball-hitting team. It helped build his confidence.

But Myers stopped short of saying that he has regained his swagger or, in the words of Austin Powers, his mojo.

"It's kind of hard to tell right now," Myers said. "I guess we'll see next time I pitch."

Charlie Manuel made it official this morning: That will be Wednesday night at Shea Stadium against the Mets. Joe Blanton will make his Phillies debut Tuesday night against Johan Santana.

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Former major-league pitcher David Cone used to describe the feeling of standing on the mound and knowing he didn't have his best stuff as "pitching naked."

Kyle Kendrick was all kinds of naked yesterday.

He didn't have his signature sinker, and he got hammered by the Marlins, the only team with more homers than the Phillies. Said center fielder Cody Ross after the game, "If they want to mash, we can mash. We don't lead the league in homers for nothing."

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Within our Sunday MLB notes, we further examine the deal for Blanton. And we congratulate our buddy Dave Smith, a biology professor at the University of Delaware and founder of the awesome baseball stats database Retrosheet.org, for receiving an award today from the Baseball Reliquary, a different sort of Hall of Fame.

Enjoy your Sunday.