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2008 In 2005 and 2006 combined, Myers started 65 games, pitching 413 1/3 innings while allowing 387 hits, 131 walks, striking out 397, and posting a 3.81 ERA. Despite that, it took just three 2007 starts for the Phillies to decide that Myers could do more for them as a closer. Save for two months lost to a right shoulder strain, he did well in the role, saving 21 games in 24 opportunities while striking out 64 in 53 1/3 innings. Still, it took only the availability of Brad Lidge for the Phillies to move him back to the rotation, which is where he belongs. The growth that Myers had shown as a starter over 2005 and 2006, if continued, would make him more productive than all but the very best closers in the game. Finding a reliever who can deliver the equivalent of four extra wins over the course of a season is easier than finding a starter with the potential to add five or six. 2007 Bret Myers established himself as one of the game`s class acts by physically assaulting his own wife on a Boston street in late June. In a just world that act would condemn him to eternal public scorn, but he`ll probably have to live with it only as long as it takes him to throw a no-hitter, win a World Series game, or post a Cy Young-worthy season. Myers was allowed to take his scheduled turn on national television the day after, only to have public outrage prompt the Phillies to give him a three-week time-out to think about what he`d done. Had Myers not been the Phillies only reliable starter at the time, building on his 2005 breakthrough, things might have gone a bit differently. America, actions such as Myers`s should bother you far more than the use of performance enhancing drugs. 2006 Myers bounced back handily from his brutal 2004 by developing a new wrinkle. Previously, Myers threw only a two-seam fastball, his signature curve, and an occasional minus changeup. That`s not enough to get by pitching to experienced, patient hitters, but adding a cutter gave him a different weapon to use against hitters who were sitting on his fastball, or to use when he couldn`t get his curve over reliably for strikes. At 25, Myers seems poised for the kind of huge season that phanatic Philly phans have anticipated since he made his debut. 2005 Sticking with a theme, here's another Phillie whose season was ruined by a high home-run rate. Unlike Milton, Myers is a groundball pitcher, which makes it more likely that he's going to bounce back to at least the level of performance he established in 2003. If there's a silver lining here, it's that Myers' habit of giving up big innings last season got him pulled early from a lot of games, keeping his workload down. 2003 In terms of raw stuff, Myers can hold his own with any pitcher in the majors, armed with a darting fastball and nasty curve. What he needs to develop now is consistency and the ability to adjust when he doesn’t have his best stuff. At this point when he struggles he tends to react by trying to throw even harder, usually with poor results. If Joe Kerrigan can get through to him, he could be frighteningly good within a couple years. 2002 The current jewel of the Phillies’ farm system, Myers elicits comparisons to a young Curt Schilling with his attitude and his stuff, including a nasty curve and a very strong fastball. The Phils switched him from a four-seam fastball to a two-seamer last year, which helped him get more ground balls and reduce the number of pitches he’d have to throw each inning. Standard pitching-prospect caveats apply, but right now, Myers is right on track. 2001 The usual first-round-pick hype surrounds Brett Myers, which may prevent some people from taking an honest look at him. Don’t be fooled by the blazing fastball; his control was awful, and if he doesn’t improve, all the heat in the world won’t help.
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