Myers’ Poor Start Dooms Phils Against Webb

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Fri, May 09, 2008 09:55 AM

When you’re an “ace,” you’re supposed to be able to match another team’s “ace” tit for tat, keeping your team in game contention and bridging the contest  for your bullpen to step in.

It’s becoming increasingly painful to admit that Brett Myers is not an ace. Not even close.

Myers struggled through five innings, giving up six earned runs (seven total) on nine hits and three walks. The game quickly got away from him in the fourth inning, when the D-Backs put up a four-spot with the bottom of their order.

With seven runs, the D-Backs were more than comfortable  with Brandon Webb on the hill. The now 8-0 stud hurled a complete game for Arizona, throwing only 104 pitches. The Phillies had no answer for Webb — they were grounding into outs left and right (18 total).

Shane Victorino and Eric Bruntlett continued to stay hot at the top of the order, each getting two hits with Vic manufacturing a run on his own in the first inning. Chase Utley (0-for-2) and Ryan Howard (1-for-4) each had an RBI.

You couldn’t think the Phils would get much out of Webb, who has been all-universe this season. A first inning run is tremendous. Myers surrendered a home run to Chris Young in the bottom of the first. If that was all he gave up, it’s a different story. Instead, Mr. Self Destruct failed to even give his offense a chance.

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17 Responses to “Myers’ Poor Start Dooms Phils Against Webb”

  1. mick Says:

    Myers could not get his curve over–so they sat on the fastball–not a pretty sight!

  2. Geoff Says:

    Another term Ive come to get used to is the “Myers Meltdown” because as soon as something doesnt go his way he totally flakes out. The guy is NOT a starter and he does NOT have the composure to be an elite starter. He has the stuff to be a starter or a clsoer or whatever he wants to be (when he throws long toss to prepare!) but he doesnt have the mental composure to excel. Starters can give up a home run and then sit down 6-7 guys in a row. “Aces”, if they give up a home run, will get locked in and sit down the next 12 batters. Cole Hamels is capable of “Ace” status but hes not quite on Webb’s level yet though he could be someday.

    Myers isnt even a 2 right now and on a championship team he isnt even a 3. hes way too inconsistent. They need another frontline starter, that has been obvious for years and they have consistently and repeatedly failed to put that man on the field. They thoguht Freddy Garcia was the guy, turned out he wasnt even healthy. Myers isnt that guy. Hamels is their guy. But to win a world series you need two or three of those starters that can be “the guy.”

  3. Gavin Says:

    It might not be a bad idea to move him back to the pen next year. he looked like a closer last year. But Lidge has been so good, you’d like to see them re-sign him. IDK……a #1 isn’t supposed to be hit or miss, and Myers is that guy that could be lights out one night and dreadful the next start. I’d like to see him set up for Lidge next year in an ideal world, but I dont think he’d ever go for that.

  4. Geoff Says:

    Hed be a good setup man if hell agree to it. I think you have to keep Lidge and give him 3 years assuming he stays healthy and on. You also have to keep Burrell if he continues to produce AND you have to sign cole hamels to a long-term extension in the offseason. thats why they have to trade ryan howard. You dont want to trade away Brett’s stuff in case another pitching coach can get more out of him so the best choice is to move him to setup. Good idea, Gavin.

    They still need to get a topline starter and i think they might have to trade howard into order to get that.

  5. Tim Malcolm Says:

    My bar for a No. 2 starter is a guy who regularly goes seven innings, sometimes battles and gets six, sometimes shines and gets eight. He gives up 2-3 runs per outing and gives the offense an easy chance to win a game.

    Myers hasn’t matched that this year at all.

  6. Tim Malcolm Says:

    And Myers won’t agree to be setup man. He wants to be in the spotlight, him and his big head. Only closer will suffice.

  7. Geoff Says:

    He defienitely wont go for that. that is what the number 2 guy should do, youre right, now cole has to step up and be the man again. they really do need a 2, and theyre woefully short of that with brett myers. i think theyll have to do something before the deadline because its painfully obvious that their rotation is not enough.

  8. Mike T. Says:

    Myers is and always will be a trashy piece of shit on and off the field. I don’t like him at all - not one bit. Package him and Howard, and let’s move on.

  9. Geoff Says:

    Yeah Myers is a cowadly deadbeat. Anybody that does what he did is not to be on my team. Not as bad as Ugeuth Urbina but still bad. That was the worst trade ever by the way. I wonder what you could get for Myers????? Maybe you do a Marlins thing where you ship both of them for like 6 guys.

  10. Mike T. Says:

    Yeah, it could be a very similar deal to that Marlins/Tigers trade. It will never happen - but I’m all for it.

  11. Don M Says:

    If You were going to put Myers in the bullpen, in a non-closer role…you might as well trade him. He’s younger and healthier than Lidge… so you would rather keep Myers… It was pretty obvious going into this year that their plan was to get a year with Lidge and then let Myers go back to the closer role next year. And they were planning on Carrasco and others being in the starting rotation by next season. I think its a given that Myers goes closer.. the more interesting things will be Burrell (or do you give a kid like Greg Golson some time).. Howard, or do you trade him for a decent starter, and see what prospects you can get in return?

    Not one team in MLB is dumb enough to give up a “# 1″ for Howard… a guy who’s abilities will go down, as his salary goes up. Take what you can get before this guy starts crying about how much more money he should be paid for each strikeout… he’s getting to the point where he is really tough to watch. He looks at called-3rds…but swings at sh!tty sliders away and in the dirt..

  12. Don M Says:

    and Tim I usually agree with you, but any guy that usually goes 7 innings, and gives up less then 3 runs… is an ACE… at this point, we need guys that can go 6, and give up less than 4… Jamie Moyer types who aren’t dominant, but usually keep you in the game.

    Overall though, we took 2 of 4 in Arizona (the “best” team in baseball according to many on ESPN, etc)… if we can win the Giants series a 4-3 road trip looks pretty good.

    The reason for the Eagles success recently: BEAT THE TEAMS YOU SHOULD, AND GO .500 AGAINST EVERYONE ELSE… Phillies did a decent job of that last year, but they need to start sweeping teams like the Giants, Nationals, Pirates, Reds… etc.

    P.S. anyone out in S.F. for the game, have fun… BEAUTIFUL STADIUM out there! I’ve only seen it once, but that and PNC PARK are among my favorites.. Fenway is awesome, and Camden Yards kicks ass too

  13. Lewisauce Says:

    I hadn’t thought about trading Myers, but I’m not necessarily against the idea. I’ve (tentatively) advocated trading Howard for a starting pitcher, and my original idea was package Howard and Eaton (try to sell ‘em to someone under the slogan of “maybe they really just need a change of scenery”) for a solid No.3-type. But Myers obviously has a lot more upside than Eaton, so maybe we could package the two and get a solid No. 1/2-type guy. We’d have to re-sign Lidge, but with the way he’s performing, that’s fine with me.

    At the start of last year, the Phils made a big deal about how Myers had matured, how he worked out all off-season, straightened out his personal life, etc. I was really excited about all that, because I love Myers’ talent.

    But the first sign that it was all bullshit was when he called a reporter a “retard” and then refused to apologize. Then he showed up to camp this year in not as good a shape as last year. Then the “traded to Japan” stunt he pulled with Kendrick — which, frankly, I thought was childish and immature, on the level of something a meat-head frat-boy would do. Then it hit me: Myers is a meat-head frat-boy.

    I still love his talent, but he’s gotta step up.

    And BTW: LET’S-GO, FLY-ERS!

  14. Geoff Says:

    You have to trade howard for a good starter and or prospects. to me, if they want to content they have to do that. you can get offense from elsewhere but its so hard to get pitching that you dont have

  15. Geoff Says:

    I think they should and will resign Lidge during the season to an extension. You can trade Myers for help. Myers and Howard should net you bats with pop in the lineup, alhought they may be mlb-ready prospects AS WELL AS mlb-ready starters or a current 3rd starter. it would be awesome if they could get a number 2 starter but thats wishful. Out of this trade you need to get 2 starters you can slot in as your 2nd/3rd or 3rd/4th starters, one outfield bat with upside, one infield bat with upside. when i say upside i mean capable of hitting 30 hr 80-100 rbi. if we can get those things its a decent trade.

    also..your second starter needs to be more in the line of what tim described. your “ace” is someone who basically always is awesome. maybe they have like no more than 4 or 5 bad outings a year. the phillies may have that with hamels but not yet. they dont have someone like that because theres less than 15-20 of those guys in baseball. you need one more of those guys to win a world series. you have to trade howard and/or myers to get that. youll have to include myers because just howard wont get you that.

  16. Brian Says:

    Phils looked pretty lethargic yesterday anyway. Sloppy fielding and when Jenkins gave up in the box (last play of the game) I figured out why Charlie lets him ride the bench. I think that lack of hustle is more detrimental than the Werthless fielding Jason brings.

  17. Brian Says:

    I’d package Howard and Myers to an AL team where they can both be lazy. Myers can whine his way out of the rotation into the pen and Howard can E3 himself into a DH slot.

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2008 salaries:

Charlie Manuel - $1.5 million
Pat Burrell - $14 million
Ryan Howard - $10 million
Brett Myers - $8.5 million
Adam Eaton - $7,635,000
Chase Utley - $7.5 million
Jimmy Rollins - $7 million
Brad Lidge - $6.35 million
Tom Gordon - $5.5 million
Geoff Jenkins - $5 million
Scott Eyre - $3.8 million
Joe Blanton - $3.7 million
Jamie Moyer - $3.5 million
Pedro Feliz - $3 million
J.C. Romero - $3 million
Jayson Werth - $1.7 million
Ryan Madson - $1.4 million
So Taguchi - $1.05 million
Chad Durbin - $900,000
Eric Bruntlett - $600,000
Cole Hamels - $500,000
Shane Victorino - $480,000
Chris Snelling - $450,000
Kyle Kendrick - $445,000
Greg Dobbs - $440,000
Carlos Ruiz - $425,000
Clay Condrey - $420,000
Chris Coste - $415,000
Rudy Seanez - $400,00
Francisco Rosario - $395,000
Mike Zagurski - $392,500
Kyle Kendrick - $385,000
Fabio Castro - $383,000
J.D. Durbin - $380,000
Anderson Garcia - $380,000
Scott Mathieson - $380,000
J.A. Happ - $380,000
Yoel Hernandez - $380,000
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