YONG KIM / Staff photographer
Marlins' Dan Uggla connects for a solo home run in the fourth inning off losing pitcher Brett Myers.
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Painful loss to Marlins for Myers, Phillies
HE WALKED WITH a hitch in his gait and talked with a quiver in his voice. Not many things were clear late last night regarding Brett Myers' immediate health, except this one: The righthander is concerned.
After leaving the mound with two outs in the sixth inning due to what for the moment has been diagnosed as hip inflammation, Myers could only watch the tail end of the Phillies' 6-2 loss to the Marlins while pondering the next nerve-racking 24 hours.
"I'm kind of a little nervous because I've never been hurt really bad," said Myers, who allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. "I don't like needles either."
Needles could very well be in his future, though, seeing as how the Phillies were attempting to set up an MRI exam for him this morning, during which dye is inserted into the body for a machine to read.
Until that test takes place, not much will be known about Myers' availability 6 days from now, when he would again be scheduled to pitch. But the concern on Myers' face as he addressed the injury, combined with the closed-door meeting involving general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. that took place in the coaches' office, suggest that a contingency plan will be developed.
While Myers said the hip pain has plagued him sporadically during the past few seasons, he described it as a locking sensation that would pass soon after it arrived. He said it first arrived in the second inning last night, and worsened in the third. He pitched well for the first three innings, retiring 10 of the first 11 batters he faced, before allowing a solo home run to Dan Uggla in the fourth; then a sacrifice fly to Wes Helms in the fifth that gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead.
But in the sixth inning, Myers gave up a leadoff double to Chris Coghlan and was forced to pitch out of the stretch, where the pain intensified.
"It was pretty bad out of the stretch," said Myers (4-3). "Sometimes it would just give way. It's kind of hard to finish pitches when you don't have your back leg pushing off. Against the Yankees I was feeling it, but it wasn't too bad. It was maybe once an inning. But tonight almost every second or third pitch it would bother me. Hopefully there is nothing serious with it and there is some treatment I can do to get rid of it."
Myers appeared to be on the verge of limiting the damage in the sixth to a no-out RBI double by Uggla, retiring the next two batters he faced. But after giving up a two-run homer to Cody Ross and throwing his next pitch for a ball, manager Charlie Manuel and head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan approached the mound. Myers persuaded them to let him to finish the at-bat against Baker, but he walked Baker and was plucked from the game.
"Since it's been bothering me, today was definitely the worst it's been," Myers said.
The Phillies had several chances to overcome the shaky outing, but they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and three times failed to drive in runs from third base with less than two outs. Manuel said he felt his lineup did not do a good enough job of making Marlins righthander Burke Badenhop bring his pitches up in the zone.
Trailing 5-2, thanks to a solo home run by Matt Stairs, they had runners at second and third with one out in the eighth and failed to further trim the deficit. In the ninth, they had the bases loaded when Jimmy Rollins lined out to centerfield end the game.
While the loss, combined with a Mets win, dropped the Phillies out of first place, the primary concern was the health of Myers.
"I'm sure that just as soon as we hear something about Brett and how serious it is and exactly what it is, that's when we'll start talking about doing something," Manuel said. "We will definitely have a plan on what we're going to do."
The Phillies have several options. Righthander Chan Ho Park was a starter until he lost his job last week and could be available for a spot start. Prospect Andrew Carpenter, who started against the Nationals 2 weeks ago, pitched Tuesday night for Triple A Lehigh Valley, where former Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick pitched last night.
Myers said he is hoping that Plan B will not be needed. Since breaking into the big leagues in 2002, he has developed a reputation as one of the National League's more durable starters. His only stint on the disabled list came as a reliever in 2007, when he missed a little more than a month with a shoulder strain. He has made at least 30 starts in each of his five full seasons as a starter, and is the only Phillies starter who has pitched into the sixth inning in each of his starts this year.
Despite his admitted uncertainty about the situation, Myers tried to remain optimistic when asked if he felt like he would make his next start.
"I'm planning on it," he said. "We'll just have to see what the MRI says [today]." *
