The SPRING in Myers' Step

The Bullpen is still very Port-O-Pottyish and will only get me frustrated if I write about it. So the other part of our pitching ensemble, the rotation, will be the focus of today's conversation. After watching Sunday's game, I was inspired and extremely impressed by Myers' 6 innings of domination and thought that he and the other 4 (err..5?) should be the focus of today. After all, they are our biggest reason for optimism, right?

What the boys did thus far this spring...

Brett Myers
11.2 IP
13 K's
5 BB
3.09 ERA

Cole Hamels
9 IP
5 K's
5 BB
7.00 ERA

Freddy Garcia
7.2 IP
2 K's
5 BB
9.39 ERA

Jamie Moyer
14.1 IP
10 K's
5 BB
2.51 ERA

Adam Eaton
6.2 IP
5 K's
1 BB
4.05 ERA

And for good measure...
Jon Lieber
6.0 IP
5 K's
1 BB
1.50 ERA

So if spring stats were an actual indicator for the future, we can determine that Lieber will win the Cy Young, Jamie Moyer is 25, Cole Hamels is the same thing as Gavin Floyd and that trading Gio Gonzalez for Freddy Garcia was the worst trade since swapping Polanco for Urbina. So the fact that Garcia and Hamels look like they belong in our bullpen shouldn't be a cause for panic. Garcia's velocity is an issue but all 6 of these pitchers belong in a Major League rotation and we should be thankful they are in ours.








And everyone, meet your opening day starter:












Manuel for some reason is playing little kiddy games with the world and is withholding the starter for opening day. Why? The only reason I can give on why our manager would be doing this is "He IS Charlie Manuel." If Myers does stay on this schedule and pitch every 5 days, however, he will be ready to go on April 2. And aside from him being our best pitcher, he deserves it. Garcia isn't an ace anymore and has been here only 4 months. Hamels still needs to develop and it would be putting way too much pressure on a 23 year old. Moyer and Eaton are both 4 and 5's. And if we do keep Lieber, does anyone want to relive April 3, 2006 again? Brett Myers is thinner than last season and seems to finally have his priorities (pitching) together. He will dominate on the 2nd. Over the past 2 seasons, he has earned the title of ace.

I also love the attitude of Myers. He is cocky and somewhat of a hot-head on the mound, which is exactly what an ace needs. When asked about facing the Devil Rays he responded "I was tricking them. My curve was brutal." Phillies.com said he was being hard on himself but I read it as "My curve was the best thing since sliced bread. I was destroying those pussies." At least I hope that is how he meant it. Here is Myers inadvertently telling Wagner he is a queer who couldn't last in Philadelphia.

And here is how I believe the rotation should shape up:

1. Myers
2. Garcia
3. Hamels
4. Eaton
5. Moyer

Splitting up Myers and Garcia might be a good idea, but I'd rather Hamels go up against other teams' number 3's instead of 2's. And the reason for not pitching Myers and Garcia back to back was to split up the hard-throwing righties, but is Freddy still considered a hard-throwing pitcher. Has he hit 90mph yet?

Still though, I'm not worried about our starters. It's the guys chilling in here that worry me:



...and I should note, that is a drunken midget peeing on the Port-O-Potty.