Phillies opening day starter Brett Myers has clearly lost his way, and he may soon find himself out of the starting rotation. Myers was charged with five earned runs and couldn't get out of the third inning. Ian Kinsler took him yard to get the game started, and it just didn't look like Brett had any confidence out there.
The Todd Zolecki covers Myers' misery in detail, including some telling quotes by Charlie Manuel:
"Can I say his job is secure?" Manuel said. "I don't know what to say,
if you want to know the truth. We'd have to find somebody to do his job
first, I guess.""We're trying to get him right," Manuel said. "Myers' best year is 14-9
as a starter [in 2003]. You stop and think about it, that's not
lighting it up. I mean, look, that's not what you call a huge season."
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Certainly not. Manuel clearly had Myers on a short leash last night, lifting him in the third and handing the ball to Clay Condrey, who wasn't able to stop the bleeding.
On the bright side, it was good to see the bats show signs of life, even in a losing effort. Pedro Feliz, who has been relatively quiet lately, smacked a grand slam, and Chris Coste and Jayson Werth also went yard. But the power core was pretty quiet, with Utley, Rollins, Howard, and Burrell accounting for only one RBI combined against a pretty subpar starter. The ribbie was JRoll's, but it came on an 0-5 night that saw his average sink to .265.
Losers of 8 of their last 9 games, the Phillies are damn lucky to still be in first place right now.