The Brett Myers Injury Mystery

The loss of Brett Myers for the remainder of the season is irreversible and was probably unavoidable. But isn't it at least curious that two months into the season, nobody in the Phillies' organization, perhaps including Myers himself, had any idea that the right-hander was dealing with a significant physical problem?

When Myers started the season so poorly, it might have been reasonable to speculate that something was going on. But there was no such speculation forthcoming. After all, the other starters were struggling as well and Myers didn't seem overly concerned.

Then the pitcher proceeded to throw quite effectively, home run balls not withstanding, in five successive starts in May, so surely there was no reason to suspect anything. But after his last game, against the Marlins on May 27, Myers said: "This (the hip) has been bothering me as long as I can remember. I never knew what it was. It just became unpitchable this season."

But after his outing against Atlanta on May 10, Myers said he "felt more in control than ... in the past.... a little stronger. Everything went well for the most part".

Against Washington on May 16, Myers gave up 2 earned runs and struck out 8 in 7 innings. The Phils gave him the lead and he "just threw fastballs for strike one and (went) from there".

And then came his best game of the year against the Yankees in New York on May 22 when he went 8 innings with no walks in a 7-3 win. After the game, he was enthusiastic: "I'm getting better and better with each start."

So in just one week, Myers goes from "getting better and better" to "it just became unpitchable this season". This is not to suggest there is something sinister going on, but there is a rather strange inconsistency here.