Saturday, August 14, 2004

Consistently Inconsistent

Never mind the Phillies battered and bruised collective ego; individual stories demand our attention now. Among these, Brett Myers’ is the most worrisome. Myers resurrection lasted all of two games, four if one is feeling generous. In last night’s against San Francisco Myers imploded for the umpteenth time this season walking the leadoff batter and then serving up a home run to J.T. Snow, who came into the game with all of six round trippers to date. In addition to allowing home runs to guys who don’t hit many, Myers walked five batters in three innings and visibly lost his temper on the mound yet again.

It bears repeating most of the pitchers on the Phillies don’t have much of any idea how to pitch and they don’t seem to be improving in that area under Joe Kerrigan’s tutelage. Those deficiencies might explain some of Myers’ problems but they hardly address the attitude portion. Many a hurler has pitched mean and ornery; just look at Sal Maglie, Early Wynn, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson or Roger Clemens to name a few. But all of them pitched with a plan and harnessed their intensity by focusing on a single objective: all batters were the enemy; it was business, not personal. The name of their games was consistency.

Myers gets into shouting matches with some batters, umpires and occasionally pitching coaches, easily losing the little composure with which he seems to begin a game. In a word, he rattles. For Myers it inevitably ends up being personal. The name of his game is inconsistency and unless he gets a grip on himself the future doesn’t bode well.

As for the bullpen, Brian Powell and Amaury Telemaco shared last night’s award for ineptitude as both were pounded.

During his post-game press conference last night manager Larry Bowa seemed unusually subdued. For the first time in memory he appeared to be resigned. Is it any wonder?

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