Posted on Sun, Jul. 20, 2008
MIAMI -
Brett Myers, back in the Phillies' clubhouse after a three-week trip to the minor-league repair shop, is eager to get on the mound against the New York Mets this week.
"I can't think of a better team for me to come back against," he said yesterday.
Why?
"I don't like 'em," he said. "We're not supposed to like them. Nothing against the guys on the team - they're our rivals. We like beating them; they like beating us."
The series with the Mets begins Tuesday night in New York. Although the Phillies won't officially announce the rotation until today, it appears that newcomer
Joe Blanton will get the ball in the opener, followed by Myers on Wednesday and
Jamie Moyer on Thursday.
The Mets seem poised to go with
Johan Santana,
John Maine and
Oliver Perez.
Myers, who has a 5.18 ERA in 106 career innings against the Mets, accepted a remedial assignment to the minors on July 1 after going 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA in 17 starts. In four starts at three levels of the Phillies' system, he went 1-3 and allowed nine earned runs (3.00 ERA) and 24 hits in 27 innings. He struck out 28 and walked seven.
Myers believes that the trip to the minors helped his fastball command and confidence. The righthander's velocity has ebbed since he moved from closer to the rotation, and that has made locating his pitches more important.
"I feel way more confident than I did," he said. "I feel like I was aggressive again. I had to get some swagger back, and I feel I accomplished that.
"I threw my fastball a lot, enough where I'm comfortable with it and not worried about it getting hit."
Myers said it was good to get away for a while because his struggles had begun to bring him down.
"I wasn't having fun," he said. "Going down made working hard a little easier. I saw some old faces who were able to tell me what I used to be. They open your eyes. You say, 'What have I become?' "
And what had Myers become?
"You can't print it," he said.
Myers found time to watch the all-star festivities and liked
Chase Utley's profane message to the New York fans who booed him before the Home Run Derby.
"That was fun," he said. "I thoroughly enjoyed it. If it had been me, I'd have been run out of town already."
New guy in town
Blanton, picked up in a trade with Oakland on Thursday, joined the Phillies and threw a bullpen session before yesterday's game.
"I'm excited to be here," the 27-year-old righthander said. "I know how tough this lineup is because I pitched against them."
Blanton beat the Phils with seven innings of one-run ball on June 24. He didn't regret that then. But . . .
"I do now," he said with a laugh.
To make room for Blanton, the Phils sent reliever
Joe Bisenius to triple A.
Blanton is expected to pitch Tuesday night against the Mets. He has faced them twice in his career and not allowed a run in 15 innings.
The Phils will have to make another roster move before they activate Myers.
Holliday and Fuentes?
Foxsports.com reported that the Phillies and Rockies were working on a multiplayer deal that would have netted the Phils outfielder
Matt Holliday and lefthanded reliever
Brian Fuentes.
The deal, which reportedly would have cost the Phillies outfielder
Shane Victorino, catcher
Lou Marson and pitchers
Carlos Carrasco and
J.A. Happ, could not be finalized, according to the report.
A deal for Fuentes is still possible. The Rockies have scouted Carrasco and Marson at double A in recent days. A major-league scout said yesterday that there is much competition to land Fuentes.
Milestone homer
Pat Burrell's two-homer game yesterday gave him 243 for his career and tied him for third place with
Chuck Klein on the Phillies' all-time list. Burrell also reached the 800-RBI mark in the game.
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