Not Done Just Yet!

Just when you think the Phillies have played their way out of the playoffs they come up with a clean 4 game sweep of the Brewers. The Brewers came into the series holding a 4 game lead over the Phillies, and the Phillies still having trouble filling out their rotation due to the double header last Sunday have had to use pitchers on short rest all week. The Phillies did what they needed win the first 3 games, game 4 was going to be a toss up because pitcher Brett Myers was making the start on only 3 days rest. 80% of day/night double headers are split between both teams, factor that in with Myers starting on short rest and the final game looked to be a very intense game. Myers has all the tools along with the mindset of a true ace and a big game pitcher.

Brett Myers somehow threw a 2 hit complete game only throwing 95 pitches and 65 were strikes. Besides the amazing strike to ball ratio, Myers threw first pitch strikes to 17 of the 29 batters he faced. The only flaw in this flawless performance was the solo home run allowed to Prince Fielder but even so it did not matter. Myers said in his post game interview that the Brewers were being very aggressive and so he used that to his advantage and did not try to strike everyone out, just get outs. Now that is a sign of a mature pitcher.

Who knows what happened in the minors when Myers got sent down but it did him wonders. The Phillies will continue to need big starts out of Brett Myers and Cole Hamels, if the Phillies make the playoffs Ryan Howard will certainly deserve a second look for his second MVP award to make it 3 Phillies in a row who have won the award (Howard did it in the 2006 season, Rollins in 2007.)

picture courtesy of espn.com