Yesterday the Philadelphia Phillies capped off an otherwise successful road trip with a loss to their intra-state rivals the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-1 defeat at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. Despite a lackluster offensive performance, with just one run on two hits, it was the pitching performance of staff ace Brett Myers that I found the most unsettling.

Myers struggled from the very beginning, giving up a lead off home run in the first inning to Nate McLouth, who had two homers on the day. Jose Bautista had three hits and an RBI and Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche, and Luis Rivas each added two hits of their own. All in all, Myers lasted five innings, giving up eight hits, four runs, and a walk, while striking out five.

The Phillies, on the other hand, only managed to put together one run and two hits, all coming in the fifth inning. Pat Burrell hit a double and later scored on an Eric Bruntlett single to center. Pittsburgh starter Paul Manholm threw a complete game, walking two and striking out two, to improve to 2-2 on the season. It was his third career complete game.

The Phillies’ ace has been all over the board this season. He has already given up ten home run despite giving up only nine all of last season. Coming in to yesterday’s game Myers had lasted at least seven innings in each of his previous three games, winning two of the three. However, he has given up a total of ten runs in his previous two starts, coupled with going only ten innings and giving up seven runs in his first two starts. Sandwiched in the middle are his only two wins.

The biggest cause for alarm, and the cause of all the long balls so far, is the drop in Myers’ velocity, which topped out at 89 mph yesterday. Myers is a power pitcher who relies on a 95 mph fastball to record many of his outs. Without it, as we have seen, he is quite vulnerable. 

“They say you go through dead-arm periods, but usually it’s never lasted for six starts,” Myers said. “I’m not the guy that’s going to make excuses or anything like that. [But] it’s tough for me to try to pitch with that when I never really have before. It’s kind of a learning experience also. Not every game are you going to feel good, but at least I’ll have something on the ball. But right now, I am throwing 86 mph fastballs and trying to let it go.”

Inconsistency has been the theme of Myers’ six plus year career. He has, at times, shown flashes of utter brilliance, looking like the dominant ace many thought he would be. However, last year not withstanding, he has never won more than fourteen games, which he did in just his second year in the majors. He has had only two seasons with an ERA under 4 and has never been able to fortify his place as the number one guy on a team that has been struggling to find a pitcher capable of leading the staff since the departure of Curt Schilling in 2000.

While I think that most people agree, me included, that Cole Hamels is now the ace of Phillies, and a legitimate one at that, the Phillies’ brass continues to hold out hope that Myers can prove that he is capable of filling that role. In just fifty six games in the major leagues, Hamels has an ERA of 3.58, with a record of 26-16. Despite getting roughed up for a total of nine earned runs in his last two starts, Hamels boasts a mere 2.75 ERA on the season, compared with Myers’ 5.11. Myers has amassed eight hundred strikeouts in his career, while Hamels already has three hundred and fifty two. Hamels boasts a K/9 of over 9, equaling more than one strikeout ever inning, while Myers’ K/9 is a certainly respectable and solid 7.5. I could go on with the stat comparisons but I’m sure you get my point. Hamels is, right now, one of the best pitchers in the majors and without a doubt the best pitcher on this team, and this is only his second full season. He is just going to continue to get better. This is Myers’ sixth full season and he has had time to show himself. Myers is only twenty-eight years old, and is certainly not too old that he can’t improve and have some of the best years of his career, but that is looking more and more unlikely with each passing year.

Despite Myers’ troubles, both on and off the field, I believe he is a worthy compliment to the Phillies and in no way want to see him move on. But I wonder how much longer we are going to have to wait before he and the Phillies concede he just doesn’t have what it takes to be the Johan Santana or Jake Peavy to the Phillies and that we, in fact, do have a guy capable of that in Hamels. Perhaps it would be best for Myers to take the pressure of being the ace off his shoulders and allow him to fly somewhat under the radar as the number two guy. Hamels is the ace of this team and I believe it is time that the Phillies woke up and realized that.