Has Myers' trip to the minors worked?
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Has Myers' trip to the minors worked?
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I think it's stating the obvious that we've seen the value of good pitching over the past couple of days. Even though the Phils eventually scored five runs on eight hits last night, you could argue that they were in a position to do so only because Brett Myers limited their deficit through the first six innings. Psychologically, it is a lot easier to score runs trailing 2-1 than it is trailing 5-1, and that was the difference last night.
In fact, it's been the difference the past couple of nights, with Joe Blanton shutting down St. Louis Saturday night followed by Myers' performance (6 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB) last night.
Over the past eight games, the Phillies have a 3.68 ERA. They've won seven of those games. Over the past six games, they have a 3.23 ERA, and opponents are hitting just .245 against them.
Aside from Cole Hamels' hiccup Friday night, this has probably been the most successful trip through the rotation this season. Of the last six starters, five have allowed three or fewer runs in six or more innings.
But the only way the Phillies will be able to go on a legitimate tear and start putting some serious distance between themselves and the .500 mark will be to continue these performances.
The biggest question, of course, is if Myers' minor league vacation has helped him as much as it appears to have helped him.
In Myers' first three starts since returning from his month-long minor league mental vacation, he is 1-0 with a 2.50 ERA. He has struck out only seven, but walked only six, five of which came in his first outing. In his last two starts, he has allowed eight hits and one walk, and just two earned runs. He has allowed just one home run. Opponents are hitting .177 against him with a .282 on base percentage. Of the 11 hits he has allowed (in 18 innings), only two have gone for extra bases.
This is the first time all season Myers has allowed three or fewer runs in three straight starts. His ERA has dropped a half a run since it ballooned to 5.84 after he allowed five runs in two innings to the Rangers on June 27 in Arlington.
Most importantly, the Phillies have won the last two games he has pitched. To put that in perspective, they were 4-13 in the starts he made before his stint in the minors, and were 1-12 since April 22.
FIRST 17 STARTS: 3-9, 5.84 ERA, 3.9 BB/9 IP, 1.56 WHIP, .284 BAA, .551 SLG, 24 HR
LAST 3 STARTS: 1-0, 2.50 ERA, 3 BB/9 IP, 0.944, WHIP, .177 BAA, .242 SLG, 1 HR
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Tom Gordon was back in action yesterday for his first rehab start. It didn't go great. He faced four hitters and allowed a home run. The Phillies technically have 30 days to activate Gordon from the DL now that his rehab clock has started ticking. Gordon has missed nearly a month of action with elbow inflammation and has not pitched since July 6.
Stop wasting time and put Myers in the setup role in the bullpen. Perfect spot for him and his style of pitching. Gordon won't be back for awhile, if at all. Put Happ in the rotation to replace Myers and lets see what we have in him before calling up Carrasco.— bigtbone- bigtbone - why would we want to "see what we have" while in the middle of a playoff run and Myers pitching well in the rotation?? Those are the type of things you do when you are out of contention and you want to "see what you have" for next year.. Carrasco was 7-7 in AA, stop annointing him the next Johan Santana....— Gary Varsho
- 8 runs last night? I thought it was 5.— ronin32
- Davey boy is a late sleeper, give him a break. We will hear about last nights game at 1PM.— Beef69
- Dave has problems differing between runs (5) and hits (8). He's a proffessional sports writer, you know— jeff gross
- Myers has been a pleasant surprise; Blandon may even be a pleasant surprise in the works; the Phillies are even "manufacturing some runs to go along with the long ball -- But one thing bothers me -- When they sent Happ down after two starts it was to "get work" during the All Star break. Now, just how long has it been since he has thrown a pitch that mattered.— DonEck
Murphy...You need a proofreader...again. pretty sure they scored 5 runs...- Again can you tell me why Myers again was replaced and not let to finish— harleydavdsngrl
- Cut him some slack- it's a blog. Let me know when blogs start being proofread. Be gracious that an entry was in before noon with him.— CyHamels
- harleydavdsngrl - they pinch hit for him in the top of the 7th because they had men on.— Gary Varsho
- harley- because we do not play in the AL— CyHamels
- my point is again he pitched so well and they take him out ....dont get it— harleydavdsngrl
- ok...but at least get the friggan score right......
- harley - because in that spot you need to try and get some runs, and take your chances with a bullpen that's been pretty good. If his spot in the order came up with no one on, or if they didn't reach his spot in the order in that inning, he would have stayed in the game.— Gary Varsho
- Harley-it's simple. You don't win a ballgame with the score 0-0. You need to score runs. Myers isn't cole who is a good hitter. Even So hits better tehn him.(and types better tehn me)— jeff gross
- lol have you watched cole in HIS last two outings? ACE????— harleydavdsngrl
- I agree with you about Cole's last two outings, but he still is teh best hitting pitcher on teh team. If Cole was up in the situation, it might have made sense to leave him in. With Myers, it made sense to take him out for a PH— jeff gross
- Jeffgross sorry cant agree and the reason you are saying what you are saying is just because its Myers and no one ever has anything bad to say about Hamels so you re just with the majority— harleydavdsngrl
- Myers may have indeed turned a corner...it was distressing though to watch him miss his spots and see the ball get pounded when he did....other times he was right on location wise....I'll reserve judgement til I see what he does in our division against the Muts and Fish when the division is on the line.....if he does what he should do and we see 8-10 consistently good starts out of him, that's great and may finally shut down all the talk of going to the pen.....— Mark1npt
- harleydavdsngrl: assuming you can actually read and know the difference between HITTING and PITCHING, Cole has a .269 AVE, 14 H, 2 2B and 2 RBI, no other pitcher is hitting over .200 except for Blanton who in 3 AB is batting .333 What don't you agree with exactly??— jeff gross
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- I don't care if Myers is an ax murderer as long as he gives me 7-8 innings with under 3 runs every 5 days down the stretch— jeff gross
- Myers should stay in the rotation for now, at least until he has 3 out of 4 bad starts. If he's turned the corner, he won't have 3 out of 4 bad starts down the stretch and all will be well. Myers' last two starts have been good, so he should get three more at least. Happ should go back down and start games in AAA unless there's someone in the rotation with an undisclosed injury. We'll see within a week what they plan to do with Happ.— xfactor
- Let's evaluate him after we win the WORLD SERIES!! GO PHILLIES!!— Einstein II
