OCT. 1 -- SMOLTZ BREAKS IT DOWN

By MARTIN FRANK

Brett Myers is the Phillies' Game 2 starter. He has followed a similar career path as Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who happened to be calling the game for TBS. Myers went from accomplished starter to closer last season to starter this season. Smoltz did the same thing with the Braves earlier this decade.

Smoltz shed some light on just how difficult the transition is for a pitcher, and he's not surprised at all that Myers had to go down to the minor leagues to find himself as it were.

Here's an excerpt of the interview. You'll obviously find more in tomorrow's News Journal and right here on delawareonline.com.

Q: Is it more difficult than people think to make the transition?

A: "It's way harder. He's more prepared today than he was earlier in the year. The toughest part is facing a batter once per game as opposed to three times and setting [the batter] up for the whole game. The whole mental preparation of knowing you have to deal with the whole lineup instead of just getting three outs. There's a whole lot more to it than the simplistic mindset of saying, 'Oh, he did it before, he can do it again.' It's a big transition. It's a credit to him for making it through this year. I know it's been up and down and times where it's been tough. But he's in position to do what I believe to impact the team."

Q: How did you prepare mentally for it?
A: "Mentally, I had a whole offseason to do it. (Note: So did Myers). That's the biggest part of it, setting yourself up for a structure. I called it setting the groundwork for what the whole season is going to be like. He's done it before. I've done it before. So you know what it takes. Now you just got to get your mind right. Once you get your mind right, you start realizing, 'Oh man, I’m facing a lineup 3 or 4 times again.' It takes some time for adjustment. Personally, it's very tough to do.

He went on to say that he feels Myers is every bit as good as CC Sabathia, whom he will face tomorow in Game 2, and that it should be a tremendous matchup "of 2 heavyweights."

We'll see.