For bloggers, it's fashionable to take an article and quote a paragraph or two of it and then provide a link for the reader to go on if he/she would like to read more. But, in regards to today's column by Jim Salisbury in the Inquirer, it's impossible to narrow it down to just a paragraph or two. I'd have to excerpt the whole thing, which isn't really fair to all of those newspaper boxes around town -- they've got to make a living too you know.
Go forth and read, then I'll meet you back here: Jim Salisbury: Trade? Phils just need Myers to improve | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/20/2008.
Wow, pretty forceful, huh? Salisbury isn't the type to write something like this for lack of a better thing to say. If he is calling out a player, it's because that player deserves it.
In the article, Salisbury blames half of Myers problems on the physical/mechanical side, the other half on the mental side. As to the former, we've been hearing reports that because Myers isn't pitching "downhill" enough, his pitches have no life on them, come in kind of flat, and get hit pretty hard. I'm not sure how much I buy that. I've taken a good look at Myers' pitch f/x data and I don't see significantly less movement on his pitches this year compared to last year.
However, I do see a greater reliance on the fastball and less on his curveball, which speaks more to the mental side of things, poor strategy and tactics. In addition, Salisbury also describes Myers attitude as being poor, and that is something that resonates with me.
In most athletic endeavors, those who are most successful are the people who are relatively even-keeled emotionally. They don't get too high and they don't let themselves get too down. Chase Utley is a nice example, so is Tiger Woods [yes, there are a lot of fist pumps, but by the time he is standing over the ball again, he's back to "baseline"], and I would say Michael Jordan was another.
Myers on the other hand, doesn't fit that mold. His moods swing like a Hummer-sized pendulum. Perhaps if Myers focused one pitch at a time, isolating each one in a singular fashion -- something we know Rich Dubee has asked him to do -- then his moods might be a little more stable and he might enjoy greater consistency.
In the end though, Salisbury's main point is the most salient one: no pitcher outside the Phillies 25-man roster can improve their chances to win games more than Mr. Myers can.
