GaryMrMets
08-04-2004, 05:43 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/9315037.htm
Posted on Wed, Aug. 04, 2004
Myers back in the win column
By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com
SAN DIEGO - Brett Myers sweats the small stuff.
Little things, things he can't control, bother him. That's when he pitches his worst. That's why he entered last night 5-8, without a win since June 17, 0-5 in his next seven starts.
There were lots of little things last night.
Myers ignored them and that's why he won, 5-2. His six innings of one-run, five-hit ball drew the second-place Phillies to within 4 ½ of the Braves in the National League East.
"Myers threw a great game tonight,'' manager Larry Bowa said. "He needed that, we needed that.''
"I let it go tonight and the defense was great behind me,'' Myers said.
Three runs in the seventh during a rally that chased starter Brian Lawrence was begun by Pat Burrell, ripened by Marlon Byrd and punctuated by Padres killer Chase Utley. It gave the Phillies enough for their second win against six losses on their 13-game road trip. Jim Thome added an insurance homer off Rod Beck, his major league-best 32nd, and the Phillies scored another run in the ninth.
But last night was all about Myers and his composure.
He withstood the first test, third baseman David Bell's team-high 15th error with one out in the first. Myers settled and escaped. He endured the second test, too, Terrence Long's bloop hit to leftfield in the second, when Burrell threw out Long trying for a double. Myers settled and got four straight outs.
Then Mark Loretta recorded his league-best 141st hit, a hot backhander that Bell couldn't catch, and Ryan Klesko smothered one into no-man's land between the mound and first base that second baseman Placido Polanco fired hot and high to Jim Thome. That allowed Loretta to go to third on the second Phillies error.
Sure enough, Myers' next pitch, to Phil Nevin, was high and hard and came back at Myers the same way, an RBI single up the middle. Pitching coach Joe Kerrigan made a mound visit. Myers settled, got a doubleplay of the rare sort (Thome to shortstop Jimmy Rollins back to Thome) and stranded a runner when Rollins, braids flying, snagged a hard backhand in shallow leftfield and nipped Long on a hop.
"That was a great play,'' Bowa said. "That's 2-0 right there.''
The testing wasn't over.
The Phillies failed to drive him in when he doubled in the top of the sixth, the first batter to get past first. Rollins moved him to third with a fly ball but Bobby Abreu fanned, ending the inning. Fresh off that frustration, Myers faced the top of the order for the third time, when he and the rest of the starters usually falter.
He gave up a one-out hit to Loretta, this one clean, but smoothly struck out Klesko as Loretta stole second. Then Nevin flied out out to rightfield.
Still, Myers trailed after that inning because the Phils faced the peccadillo of Petco Park, whose cavernous outfield makes it one of the hardest in which to hit home runs. Burrell crushed a pair that might have made it out of most parks; certainly, they would have left Citizens Bandbox. Abreu, too, seared a heat-seeker that might have found the flowers in Philadelphia.
But with the dimensions being what they are and with Lawrence continuing his stinginess - he'd allowed two earned runs over the 13 innings of his last two starts - the Phillies' offense remained toothless.
Lawrence left with a 1-0 lead in the seventh, with two outs and two on, after throwing 100 pitches. He would have faced .225-hitting eighth hitter Byrd, a righthanded batter he dominated in his first two at-bats.
Scott Linebrink entered... and promptly surrendered Byrd's RBI single to centerfield that defensive replacement Jay Payton fielded and lousily threw home, up the line with no chance to get Burrell. That tied the score, 1-1.
"That should help his confidence,'' Bowa said of Byrd.
Utley then pinch-hit for Myers and dropped a single in front of Giles in rightfield. Giles fired to third to try to get the speedy Byrd instead of trying to get lumbering Mike Lieberthal at home. Lieberthal scored and Giles' throw scooted past third baseman Sean Burroughs, letting Byrd come in for a 3-1 lead.
Utley moved to 7-for-14 with seven RBI against the Padres this season. Utley, a lefty hitter, is likely to start tonight against righthander Adam Eaton, especially since Polanco left last night in the middle of the seventh inning, dizzy with a stiff neck. He was kneed in the head sliding into second in the fourth inning and got hit in the left elbow in the sixth.
With Myers done, Rheal Cormier got two outs in the seventh and Todd Jones one. After Thome's homer in the eighth, Felix Rodriguez, in his first game with the club, worked a clean inning.
Lieberthal's walk and another Padres error - shortstop Khalil Greene - helped the Phillies add another run in the ninth on Jason Michaels' pinch-hit infield chopper off the plate.
That made it 5-1 and erased a chance for substitute closer Tim Worrell to get a save, but he finished the game.
By then, Myers was thinking about Sunday, his next start, in Los Angeles.
You know. Big-picture stuff.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 04, 2004
Myers back in the win column
By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com
SAN DIEGO - Brett Myers sweats the small stuff.
Little things, things he can't control, bother him. That's when he pitches his worst. That's why he entered last night 5-8, without a win since June 17, 0-5 in his next seven starts.
There were lots of little things last night.
Myers ignored them and that's why he won, 5-2. His six innings of one-run, five-hit ball drew the second-place Phillies to within 4 ½ of the Braves in the National League East.
"Myers threw a great game tonight,'' manager Larry Bowa said. "He needed that, we needed that.''
"I let it go tonight and the defense was great behind me,'' Myers said.
Three runs in the seventh during a rally that chased starter Brian Lawrence was begun by Pat Burrell, ripened by Marlon Byrd and punctuated by Padres killer Chase Utley. It gave the Phillies enough for their second win against six losses on their 13-game road trip. Jim Thome added an insurance homer off Rod Beck, his major league-best 32nd, and the Phillies scored another run in the ninth.
But last night was all about Myers and his composure.
He withstood the first test, third baseman David Bell's team-high 15th error with one out in the first. Myers settled and escaped. He endured the second test, too, Terrence Long's bloop hit to leftfield in the second, when Burrell threw out Long trying for a double. Myers settled and got four straight outs.
Then Mark Loretta recorded his league-best 141st hit, a hot backhander that Bell couldn't catch, and Ryan Klesko smothered one into no-man's land between the mound and first base that second baseman Placido Polanco fired hot and high to Jim Thome. That allowed Loretta to go to third on the second Phillies error.
Sure enough, Myers' next pitch, to Phil Nevin, was high and hard and came back at Myers the same way, an RBI single up the middle. Pitching coach Joe Kerrigan made a mound visit. Myers settled, got a doubleplay of the rare sort (Thome to shortstop Jimmy Rollins back to Thome) and stranded a runner when Rollins, braids flying, snagged a hard backhand in shallow leftfield and nipped Long on a hop.
"That was a great play,'' Bowa said. "That's 2-0 right there.''
The testing wasn't over.
The Phillies failed to drive him in when he doubled in the top of the sixth, the first batter to get past first. Rollins moved him to third with a fly ball but Bobby Abreu fanned, ending the inning. Fresh off that frustration, Myers faced the top of the order for the third time, when he and the rest of the starters usually falter.
He gave up a one-out hit to Loretta, this one clean, but smoothly struck out Klesko as Loretta stole second. Then Nevin flied out out to rightfield.
Still, Myers trailed after that inning because the Phils faced the peccadillo of Petco Park, whose cavernous outfield makes it one of the hardest in which to hit home runs. Burrell crushed a pair that might have made it out of most parks; certainly, they would have left Citizens Bandbox. Abreu, too, seared a heat-seeker that might have found the flowers in Philadelphia.
But with the dimensions being what they are and with Lawrence continuing his stinginess - he'd allowed two earned runs over the 13 innings of his last two starts - the Phillies' offense remained toothless.
Lawrence left with a 1-0 lead in the seventh, with two outs and two on, after throwing 100 pitches. He would have faced .225-hitting eighth hitter Byrd, a righthanded batter he dominated in his first two at-bats.
Scott Linebrink entered... and promptly surrendered Byrd's RBI single to centerfield that defensive replacement Jay Payton fielded and lousily threw home, up the line with no chance to get Burrell. That tied the score, 1-1.
"That should help his confidence,'' Bowa said of Byrd.
Utley then pinch-hit for Myers and dropped a single in front of Giles in rightfield. Giles fired to third to try to get the speedy Byrd instead of trying to get lumbering Mike Lieberthal at home. Lieberthal scored and Giles' throw scooted past third baseman Sean Burroughs, letting Byrd come in for a 3-1 lead.
Utley moved to 7-for-14 with seven RBI against the Padres this season. Utley, a lefty hitter, is likely to start tonight against righthander Adam Eaton, especially since Polanco left last night in the middle of the seventh inning, dizzy with a stiff neck. He was kneed in the head sliding into second in the fourth inning and got hit in the left elbow in the sixth.
With Myers done, Rheal Cormier got two outs in the seventh and Todd Jones one. After Thome's homer in the eighth, Felix Rodriguez, in his first game with the club, worked a clean inning.
Lieberthal's walk and another Padres error - shortstop Khalil Greene - helped the Phillies add another run in the ninth on Jason Michaels' pinch-hit infield chopper off the plate.
That made it 5-1 and erased a chance for substitute closer Tim Worrell to get a save, but he finished the game.
By then, Myers was thinking about Sunday, his next start, in Los Angeles.
You know. Big-picture stuff.