Brett Myers ought to worry less about what musical number is being played as he makes his way in from the bullpen to the mound and more about what he's going to do once he gets there.
Wednesday night the chronically inconsistent right-hander wasn't pleased with the musical selection blaring on the stadium loudspeakers as he took the mound but somehow he managed to overcome his displeasure and throw a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the save. Speaking to reporters after the game Myers solicited suggestions from the fans for a signature piece of music to herald his arrivals. Presumably, the polls remain open and as we wait for all precincts to report, last night Myers came into a tied game in the ninth inning and promptly yielded two hits, a base on balls and two earned runs to take the loss and spoil another fine start from Kyle Kendricks. Just another night in the Myers adventures. Stay tuned...if you can.
Speaking of Kendricks, manager Charlie Manuel lifted him in the seventh inning with the score tied at two apiece when Carlos Ruiz lead off with a walk. Manuel elected to send in a struggling Wes Helms to pinch hit for Hendricks. Helms fouled off two bunt attempts before going down on strikes and the Phillies failed to score in the inning. Why would Manuel lift the youngster Kendricks, who was pitching well and apparently told his manager his felt strong? The situation barely called for it with Ruiz, a decent runner "for a catcher" on first and Helms, who isn't even starting much these days, batting. What the Phillies most desperately need is good starting pitching, especially from ones who can go deep into the game and avoid having to go to the bullpen. The Phils have proven to everyone they can score runs, even late in the game. What sense does it make to take out your starter when he is in command? (For an excellent piece on the subject of complete games read Bill Conlin's recent column.)
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One of the season's best feel-good stories, right up there with the Josh Hamilton comeback, took center stage in St. Louis last night where former pitcher Rick Ankiel made a long-awaited return to the major leagues as a power-hitting outfielder. Ankiel, you may recall, began his big league baseball life as a very successful pitcher, winning 11 games in 2000 before suffering a complete collapse in the post-season, throwing an astounding nine wild pitches in only four innings of work. Ankiel never recovered from that disaster and after a few failed attempts to pitch in St. Louis and in the minors eventually concluded his only path back to the big leagues would be as a position player, not a pitcher. So he went back to the drawing board and remade himself into an outfielder.
Now 28 years old, Ankiel was good enough to be hitting .267 with a league leading 32 homers and 89 RBIs in 102 games at Triple-A Memphis. He also struck out 90 times and had a .314 on-base percentage. Yesterday, he got the call and started in right field for the Cardinals.
In his first three at-bats Ankiel popped up and, true to his minor league form, struck out twice. But also true to that form, in his fourth plate appearance Ankiel hit a pretty darn good curve for a three-run homer.
After the game, a usually stoic Tony La Russa said that other than the World Series triumph he'd never seen his club happier or felt such baseball joy himself. I have to admit welling up a bit myself watching the replays.
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