Myers Stands Tall: Phillies take series from Cubbies

Bobby Abreu’s first inning grand slam off of Mark Prior in the 92 degree heat at CBB gave Brett Myers a four run lead, enough room to pitch with a good amount of sloppiness. Myers flirted with disaster, giving up 10 hits to the 30 batters he faced. But luckily for Myers, and for the Phillies, Myers held off the Cubs without giving up one home run, although he did allow five doubles. The Phillies hit three home runs off of Prior, adding a Chase Utley shot in the fifth and a Todd Pratt blast in the fourth. Because the long ball tallies were all courtesy of the Phillies, the Cubs were never able to score more than 2 runs in an inning. Due to the early Phillies lead, Brett Myers could afford to be a little more aggressive to Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez than he otherwise might have been.

The Phillies have won the last two games after Tuesday night’s heartbreaking loss. Abreu’s home run was his first in a month (except for his 41 at the Home Run Derby) and he will need to be a slugger for the Phils down the stretch, while Ryan Howard gets his sea legs and Jim Thome resides in never-never land.

The Phils have to be feeling good after beating Mark Prior. Prior strikes out more than one hitter per inning on average, and is at the beginning of what will be a dominant major league career, unless his nagging injuries get the better of him. Prior already has 2 postseason wins, and if the Cubs will ever find their way into the World Series in the next 10 year, you have to imagine the Kerry Wood and Mark Prior will be a core of that team. After Boston winning last year, Chicago is primed to be the next magical team, unless the Tampa Bay Devil Rays wind up being competitive in the next few years…

On the Phillies side of things, Brett Myers is turning out to be a different pitcher than ever before. He is resilient during games this season, pulling out performances that he would not have last year, when he gave up an astounding 31 home runs. Myers has morphed himself from a solid number 3 starter, to someone who is mentioned in the same breath as Jake Peavy when you are talking about the good young talent in the major leagues. Not turning twenty five for a couple of weeks, Myers is a legitimate ace, someone that the Phillies can build their club around. He was the 12th pick overall in the 1999 draft, and alongside Ryan Howard (5th round pick in the 2001 draft), Pat Burrell (1st pick in the 1998 draft) and Ryan Madson (9th round pick in the 1998 draft), the Phillies are building a core of their franchise that Phillies fans are very proud of. Now only if they could complement that core with another ace, and another slugger, particularly one who plays third base.