The manager had seen enough. Everybody had.

Myers pitched horribly in an 8-6 Phillies loss to the Atlanta Braves, and his latest performance was cause for legitimate concern. The Phillies have entered the second quarter of their season with three starting pitchers carrying ERAs of 5.02 or higher, and one of those pitchers was their opening-day starter.

"It's frustrating," Myers said. "I'm disappointed in myself. I'm disappointed in letting my teammates down. I'm disappointed the fans have to watch that. You work so hard to try to win. You push yourself. You're busting your rear end out there and you have nothing to show for it. It's frustrating.

"I'm going to work my way through this. This isn't going to happen all season because I'm not going to let it happen."

It has been a tremendously disappointing season for Myers. He has a 5.91 ERA, which is the worst on the team and is tied for the fourth worst in the National League. In 41/3 innings against the Braves, he allowed eight runs (six earned), nine hits and three walks. He struck out six.

He gave up home runs to Yunel Escobar, Chipper Jones and Kelly Johnson, raising his major-league-leading total to 15 allowed.

But here's the kicker: Myers (2-4) is not sure why he is getting pounded. Manuel and catcher Chris Coste are not sure why, either.

"I don't know exactly what we can do," said Manuel, who added later that he thought Myers could be a little more aggressive throwing inside. "We can keep working with him and sending him out there and see where it goes."

"It's almost a little bit of the Adam Eaton syndrome, where any time the ball was anywhere near the hitting zone, they killed it," Coste said. "He didn't get away with anything. He had a good fastball. His curveball was pretty good. It's just that any time he threw a pitch remotely close to the hitting zone, they killed it."

The Phillies are 3-6 in Myers' nine starts this season. He has pitched more than five innings just four times. In his last five starts, he is 0-3 with a 7.62 ERA.

Myers said he was healthy. He has said his conditioning is not an issue. He said he has not lost his confidence, either.

"I have confidence in every pitch that I'm throwing," he said. "There's not a doubt in my mind that I would throw a different pitch. I'm trying to go right at people. I'm not going to sit back and be bullied around like I am right now."

He's just getting hit. Hard.

Read his blog at http://go.philly.com/phillieszone.