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Opening night in review: on Myers, breaking up the lefties
Following the Phils (that has a nice ring to it, huh?) season opening loss, Brett Myers did what he normally does after a bad outing: he was open and honest, he admitted to not executing on key pitches and he placed the blame for the loss on himself.
But he also said repeatedly - maybe four or five times - that he made "three mistakes" and the Braves capitalized.
We at Phollowing the Phillies hate to nitpick, but we counted more than "three" blistering hits by the Braves. "Three" home runs, sure. They were mistakes.
But how about the base hit to Chipper Jones before Brian McCann's two-run, two-out home run in the first inning? If Jones doesn't reach, McCann leads off the second and if he does homer, it's only a solo shot.
Or what about Yunel Escobar's bomb in the top of the third, which was as close to a home run as Pat Burrell's blast in Game 5 of the World Series?
Jones also rifled a double off Myers in the fifth.
Perhaps these weren't "mistakes" and Myers was crediting the hitters for these non-home run bullets. But the fact is Myers was hit - and hit hard - in his third season opening start.
By the way, he's 0-for-3 in those Opening Day starts. I think that means he's out.
Myers is maddening in his inconsistency, which isn't likely to change any time soon. He's 28 years old and he's been in the league since 2002.
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You may have noticed - the game ended with Braves closer Mike Gonzalez, a left-hander, striking out Ryan Howard, a lefty, and Raul Ibanez, another lefty, with two runners and the score at 4-1.
After the game, I asked Charlie Manuel if he'd consider breaking up the left-handers (like possibly moving righty Jayson Werth to fifth, bumping Ibanez to sixth).
Here was Manuel's response:
"We played one game, man... what would you suggest? Basically the guys you see on the field, that’s our lineup. There are some things we can do, we can shuffle some guys around, but more than likely it's going to land where it’s at. Unless we can find a right-handed hitter who goes in between them that gets hot."
All due respect to Charlie, but Jayson Werth did hit .333 with six home runs and six home runs and 15 RBIs in 25 exhibition games coming into Sunday night.
But he also said repeatedly - maybe four or five times - that he made "three mistakes" and the Braves capitalized.
We at Phollowing the Phillies hate to nitpick, but we counted more than "three" blistering hits by the Braves. "Three" home runs, sure. They were mistakes.
But how about the base hit to Chipper Jones before Brian McCann's two-run, two-out home run in the first inning? If Jones doesn't reach, McCann leads off the second and if he does homer, it's only a solo shot.
Or what about Yunel Escobar's bomb in the top of the third, which was as close to a home run as Pat Burrell's blast in Game 5 of the World Series?
Jones also rifled a double off Myers in the fifth.
Perhaps these weren't "mistakes" and Myers was crediting the hitters for these non-home run bullets. But the fact is Myers was hit - and hit hard - in his third season opening start.
By the way, he's 0-for-3 in those Opening Day starts. I think that means he's out.
Myers is maddening in his inconsistency, which isn't likely to change any time soon. He's 28 years old and he's been in the league since 2002.
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You may have noticed - the game ended with Braves closer Mike Gonzalez, a left-hander, striking out Ryan Howard, a lefty, and Raul Ibanez, another lefty, with two runners and the score at 4-1.After the game, I asked Charlie Manuel if he'd consider breaking up the left-handers (like possibly moving righty Jayson Werth to fifth, bumping Ibanez to sixth).
Here was Manuel's response:
"We played one game, man... what would you suggest? Basically the guys you see on the field, that’s our lineup. There are some things we can do, we can shuffle some guys around, but more than likely it's going to land where it’s at. Unless we can find a right-handed hitter who goes in between them that gets hot."
All due respect to Charlie, but Jayson Werth did hit .333 with six home runs and six home runs and 15 RBIs in 25 exhibition games coming into Sunday night.
posted by Ryan at
11:54 PM
3 Comments:
Yeah, Charlie might mix it up if Werth got hot. If, for example, Werth got one of the four hits in a game. Or if he got the only RBI in that game. If that happened, then he might mix it up. (rolls eyes)
I don't see how you can call that pitch to Chipper a mistake. It was down and Jones just slashed at it. Chipper is a good hitter and sometimes good hitters can hit good pitches. The ESPN tracker even had it as a ball. Otherwise, I agree with you.
As for the lineup, it's one game and Ibanez has hit well against lefties in the past and the starter was right-handed. Give Lowe a ton of credit last night.
Fair enough - Jones is a good hitter, no doubt. I just thought it was funny Myers thought he only made "three mistakes." But, hey, maybe he did.
The beauty of the season opener is how much it gets analyzed. I doubt I'll be breaking down Game No.67 the same way I'm analyzing Game No.1
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