Pivotal Point

Brett Myers is already unhappy. Well, fella, that makes a lot of us.

In a piece by Jim Salisbury in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Myers places most of the blame for last season’s mediocre record and sky-high ERA on nearly everyone but himself, citing a lack of focus due to conflicting advice and too much of it.

To be sure, micromanagers like the departed Larry Bowa and Joe Kerrigan bent too many players’ ears in opposite directions too often, but the always-simmering Myers didn’t help his own cause by imploding on the mound more than once when things didn’t go his way and by playing overweight and out-of-shape.

Claiming he “knows what is being said up here [Philadelphia],” Myers already appears to have placed a good-sized chip on his broad shoulders. What else should people “up here” be thinking when a pitcher for whom so much was expected obviously loses his cool on the mound frequently and fails to deliver time and again?

The Phillies are counting on Myers; indeed, they were counting on him last year, his second full season in the majors following an excellent 2003. At some point people stop regarding a player as full of potential and begin to regard him as someone who failed to reach his potential. For Myers this may be that pivotal point.