mvn
Posted April 9th, 2009 by mvn
Tags: Baseball, Philadelphia Phillies
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Bad Brett Myers Shows Up In Phillies Season Opening Loss

The Atlanta Braves and Brian McCann spoiled the Philadelphia Phillies season opener, as McCann smacked a first-inning two-run shot deep off Brett Myers into the right field stands to give them the lead.The Braves would then hit two more solo homers in the second inning, courtesy of Jordan Schafer and Jeff Francoeur.  The Phillies could only muster up a single run in the ninth inning off Mike Gonzalez, and the game ended 4 to 1. 

Brett Myers showed his ugly side, throwing up some ugly changeups, ignoring his curveball, and mislocating his fastball, several of which landed in the outfield stands.  Giving up three homers to a team unlikely to dominate offensively is not a good sign for his ability to put together a consistent season. His performance last night, giving up 4 runs in 6 innnings, was not enough in what needed to be a pitchers’ duel as Derek Lowe shut down the Phillies offense over eight scoreless innings.  Lowe induced groundball after groundball.  Prior to the ninth inning attempt at a rally, Carlos Ruiz was the only Phillie to reach second base.

Now, about that ninth inning rally.  The General Eric Bruntlett reached second on a ripped double to left, Jimmy Rollins flied out to right, Jayson Werth singled in Bruntlett and Chase Utley then walked to put two men on with only one out.  It was Ryan Howard’s turn at the plate, but struck out looking, obviously not expecting a strike down the middle of the plate.  Raul Ibanez, the shiny new left fielder, proceeded to also strike out and the game was over. 

The results of the ninth inning present an interesting problem.  If lineups matter, and they do in the sense that their configurations can force the other teams’ managers to make more decisions, then this lineup construction is a faulty one.  Three lefties in 3-4-5 makes the opposition’s life easier as they have one clear decision to make in the late innings.  Putting Jayson Werth in the fifth spot, and putting Ibanez sixth would certainly force more heat on the opposition.  It’s something that needs to be done before this situation occurs again.

Final thought: It’s still just one game!  1 of 162.  Columns such as this one, which overstate the problems found in last night’s loss, are premature.  Worrying about the firewpower of the lineup, about the solvency of the entire rotation, and the health of many of the players just seems to be dire thinking for its own sake.

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