A long and healthy regard for starting pitching led me to write several times last season that robbing the rotation to pay the bullpen was a fool's bargain. Myers was good enough to be the opening-day starter in 2007, and turning him into a closer because of Tom Gordon's woes didn't seem like a good idea. If you want a closer, go get a closer.

So it was apparently a better idea, at least from this seat, when the Phillies got Brad Lidge and returned Myers to the rotation. Beyond Cole Hamels, the Phils didn't have a starter who wasn't, on the surface, too inexperienced (Kyle Kendrick), too experienced (Jamie Moyer), or too Adam Eaton (Adam Eaton).

It was such a better idea, in fact, that it turned Myers from a bullpen horse into an IronPig. Myers accepted that slide down baseball's evolutionary pole, apparently willingly, and will make his first triple-A start of the season tonight.

"How many starts he will make there is something we'll monitor," general manager Pat Gillick said.

Huh, imagine that. They'll monitor how many starts he makes.

The other spike will drop later in the week, when someone, perhaps the legendary J.A. Happ or veteran Brian Mazone, both lefthanders, will be promoted to the roster and take Myers' spot in the rotation. If righthander Kris Benson has begun to throw a little harder, he could be the guy, or Chad Durbin, if they stay within the current roster. Allegedly, whatever happens right now, there is also a chance the Phillies will make a move before the non-waiver trading deadline and trade for a pitcher.

Many options will be explored and many directions taken before it is Myers who gets back in the starting rotation. His season has spoken pretty loudly so far. The Phils are 1-11 in his last 12 starts, going all the way back to the end of April. In the last of those starts, Myers lasted only two innings against the Texas Rangers and gave up five earned runs.

He didn't speak to reporters after that game and maintained his silence until talking to The Inquirer's Jim Salisbury after the move yesterday. What was previously speculated, that Myers hasn't felt as comfortable starting as he did relieving, was confirmed. You can't blame Myers, who liked the pace and the frequent work, for feeling he had been yanked around again. If it had been Myers' call, maybe the Phillies would have gotten another starter in the off-season rather than Lidge.

The exact nature of Myers' mental state is not the point, naturally. The Phillies can't wait any longer. Seventeen starts are a fair test. A 3-9 record and a 5.84 earned run average are unacceptable. More hits than innings pitched? Most home runs allowed in the major leagues? Enough.

The only decision the Phillies really had to make was what role Myers should be given for the Lehigh Valley team. He could have been sent down there to get back his late-relief chops, preparing for the moment when Gordon disappears again or, heaven forbid, something happens to Lidge's health. Aside from journeyman Matt Childers, who has 13 saves for the Piglets, no one could have complained about that course of action.

Instead, Myers will be in the triple-A rotation. He will be able to stay on a regular schedule and can work on getting his game back together. Why it is not more together is a mystery. He has four good pitches, the sort of variety a starter needs. He is strong, easily able to pitch into the seventh or eighth inning with regularity. What he seems to have lacked is a game plan during his starts, a thinking-through of what he needs to do from the first pitch until the 100th. He needs to work on his control, stop throwing pitches down the middle of the plate. A bunch of stuff, actually.

I've been off-base about what to do with Myers for two solid years, so I feel confident saying the Phillies are making a mistake now.

The evidence is overwhelming, and it is right in front of us. Brett Myers is a late-inning reliever. He has the attention-deficit demeanor for the role and the gunfighter mentality it requires.

Myers should have been sent down to regain his balance as a closer. You can trust me on that one. The only time I've been wrong about this guy is every time.

at 215-854-5842 or bford@phillynews.com. Read

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