BY SCOTT LAUBERBrett Myers finally found a way to replicate being a closer.
He pitched a complete game.
Making his sixth start since returning from the minors, Myers fired a shutout tonight, his first since May 20, 2004, and his first complete game since Sept. 20, 2006. He held the sad-sack Nationals to nine hits, fanned nine and threw 119 pitches. He's 3-1 with a 1.94 ERA since his confidence-restoring mission to the minor leagues.
And, if you closed your eyes in the ninth inning, you almost could see Myers striking out Wily Mo Pena to clinch the Phillies' NL East championship last Sept. 30. This time, though, it was Aaron Boone swinging through a third strike, and Myers settled for pumping his fist instead of throwing his mitt to the sky and celebrating.
"Are you kidding?" Myers said when asked if he gave any thought to last Sept. 30. "I don't even know who I am out there. I don't even know my name. People are always like, were you thinking about this or that? You get so caught up in the game. You've got to concentrate on getting a guy out."
Clearly, though, Myers' resurgence gives the Phillies an enormous boost. Saw an interesting stat the other day. Through last Saturday's games, the best rotation threesomes in baseball posted these numbers:
Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Randy Johnson (D-backs): 41-18, 3.26 ERA, 475.1 IP
John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Jon Garland (Angels): 38-17, 3.60 ERA, 467.1 IP
Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano (Cubs): 37-16, 3.54 ERA, 468.1 IP
Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka (Red Sox): 36-14, 3.33 ERA, 429.1 IP
Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Jesse Litsch (Blue Jays): 36-25, 3.79 ERA, 467.1 IP
Well, since the All-Star break, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer and Myers have posted these numbers: 7-4, 2.67 ERA, 124.2 IP. So, obviously, you can see the potential of the Phillies' top starters. But, then, I think we'd all agree that pitching hasn't been the Phillies' problem lately.
***
Forget about David Ross signing with the Phillies. The backup catcher appears to be headed to an AL team, according to Pat Gillick's comments on Comcast before tonight's game.
1 comment:
Scott, I saw your article today on Charlie Manuel being intrigued about the Phillies adjusting the rotation. Good job asking these questions!
If you have any follow up discussions, tell Dubee and Charlie to count up the games left this season-- Hamels starts 7 more games whether he is moved up or not. It won't affect his innings...unless he has to pitch some innings in the playoffs!
Post a Comment