What, oh what, are we to do with Brett Myers? Myers, the Phillies’ opening day starter, was knocked around again last night, giving up three more home runs to the division rival Atlanta Braves, increasing his league leading total to 15 on the season. Myers gave up nine home runs all of last season, albeit he spent half the season in the pen as the Phillies’ closer. Oddly enough, Myers didn’t actually pitch all that poorly. According to John Finger of comcastsportsnet.com, “Myers threw strikes and got ahead in the count, which is the biggest indicator in determining whether or not a pitcher will have a good game or not. For Myers, his first four pitches went for strikes while six of the first nine he faced were greeted with first-pitch strikes.”

Nevertheless, after throwing only four pitches in the game, Myers was already down 2-0, having given up two solo home runs, first to Yunel Escobar, then two pitches and two batters later to Chipper Jones. The next inning Myers struck out the side, but also gave up a deep home run to Kelly Johnson. In total, Myers pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits, striking out 6. As Finger said in his article, ” even for the consistently inconsistent Myers, Wednesday night’s 8-0 defeat had a little bit of everything.”

I like Myers, I really do. Despite his off the field antics, which I have to say are inexcusable, I think Myers is a good enough guy and a guy who wants to be here. He is very competitive and wants to win. You could see how upset he was with himself after manager Charlie Manuel took him out of the game in the fifth inning, throwing things and visibly yelling at himself while venting to pitching coach Rich Dubee. He works very hard and has, at times, shown that he is capable of being the pitcher everyone thought he would be. In a game back on April 17th, he went seven strong innings, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 8.

However, he has not had a win since. Myers has the highest ERA on the team and leads the league in home runs allowed. It begs the important question, as Finger put it, “Is Brett Myers this season’s Adam Eaton?”

His numbers are not quite as bad as Eaton’s were last year, but they are pretty darn close. The Major League record of most home runs allowed in a season is 50, set by Bert Blyleven in 1986, and the National League record is 48, set by Jose Lima in 2000. Myers is averaging 1.875 home runs a game. At his current pace, he is set to break those records in late August. While I do not think he will end up with 60 home runs allowed, it just underlines the serious problems Myers is having so far this year.

Sooner or later we will all have to confront the 1,000 lb. guerrilla in the room: when do we finally concede defeat on Myers? I think the fans, as always happens, have already confronted that question many times over, and perhaps we have been too hasty in throwing Myers overboard and wanting to move on. But I think that those sentiments could have been considered hasty a couple years ago. Myers is now 28 and has been in the league for six years. When are the Phillies finally going to stop lying to themselves and admit that Myers, while being a good pitcher, if not sometimes great, does not have what it takes to be the number one or even number two guy on the staff?

I understand that the free agent market was weak this off-season and that our farm system, for the most part, stinks in terms of top prospects. I understand that it is hard to attract star players to come to Philadelphia, particularly pitchers who are leery of pitching in Citizen’s Bank Park. I understand that hindsight is 20/20 and its easy now to say that it didn’t make any sense to start Myers as the opening day pitcher rather than true ace Cole Hamels in order to give Myers a confidence boost since it has obviously not helped him any. But what I don’t understand is why the Phillies seem so determined to have Myers as their ace? Cole Hamels is the superior pitcher, plain and simple. It doesn’t matter what you think of Myers, Hamels is just a better pitcher. Hamels is one of a few guys in the league who, if his career is long enough, could make it to 300 wins. He has serious stuff. Myers does not.

The Phillies now, more than ever, need pitching. Jamie Moyer is probably pitching his last year or two in the majors. He has been great in the role of the number three or four guy with the Phillies. I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Moyer, but he is 46 years old. He is unable to sustain himself through an entire outing anymore. He has become inconsistent, losing three of his last six starts, while only winning one, with two no decisions. I am in no way lobbying for him to retire, but I would have to think that even he understands he is starting to lose his stuff and I can’t imagine he will pitch for much longer.

Kyle Kendrick is a rising star for the Phillies, but is still probably a year or two away from mastering his stuff and solidifying himself as a serious starter in this league. He has been stung by that ill-fated sophomore slump that drags down so many good prospects. The true test will be whether he can ride this out and use it to make him a better pitcher, or whether he lets it kill his confidence and goes the way of Brandon Duckworth or Ryan Madson (don’t get me started).

Adam Eaton is, well, Adam Eaton. We are stuck with his contract for another year and then, thank goodness, we will be able to rid ourselves of him. He has been nothing but dismal since coming over from San Diego, and his failings have been well documented, so I won’t rehash them here.

The point is that the Phillies may not be able to rely on Moyer, Kendrick and Eaton this season. Even if Hamels continues to dominate, he alone will not be enough. The Phillies, try as they might, cannot score six plus runs a night, as was evidenced in last night’s game. The Phillies again lead the league with 13 come from behind wins this season. They lead the league in home runs. With the return of Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino to the lineup, the Phillies’ offense will only get better. But they cannot compete with the pitching staff giving up six, or seven, or eight runs a night. The Phillies need the pitching to tighten up. Moyer can give them five good innings, but then the bullpen has to come in and finish the job. Kendrick has actually been as much a victim of little run support as he has poor pitching and he could turn it around for the rest of the season. Eaton, as far as I’m concerned, is a lost cause and will probably be replaced by Kris Benson when he finally gets healthy, but its still up in the air whether he will be effective in the majors again.

That leaves Myers. Brett needs to turn things around if the Phillies have any hope of competing for the division and the playoffs this year. Brett needs to be the pitcher the Phillies, for whatever reason, think he can be.