Phillies Strike Out On And Off The Field

By now you’ve undoubtedly heard that Phillies pitcher Brett Myers, arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife, has taken a two-and-a-half week absence from the team.

The story goes that the pitcher asked for a leave of absence himself, rather than be told by the team to take one. Phil Sheridan has a very nice column today about how the Phillies’ front office managed to handle Myers’ arrest even worse than anything else:

The Phillies failed miserably. Montgomery attempts to explain why in his statement.

“We have been engaged in a difficult balancing of concerns for the rights of our employee, the presumption of innocence, the rights of his spouse, and the legitimate public concern about allegations of spousal abuse by a Phillies ballplayer,” Montgomery’s statement reads.

And it’s true. These matters are complicated. Everyone involved has rights. This is a matter for the courts to handle. That’s why no one has reasonably suggested the Phillies handcuff Myers to the bumper of the team bus, or beat him with fungo bats or do anything else that would trample his rights.

But holding him out of one turn in the rotation - 36 hours after he was fingerprinted and booked on felony criminal charges - would have been an obvious and benign and even charitable thing to do.

Sheridan’s right. (Overall. Honestly, I think beating Brett Myers with fungo bats would be kinda reasonable. And cool.) The Phillies had a chance to show that they were competent in at least one area, and they blew it big time. Putting the obvious things aside, what exactly did the Phillies think was going to be the reaction to letting Myers start the day after he allegedly beat up his wife?

Hopefully, no one needs to be told that hitting a man hitting his wife is wrong. Really wrong. And I don’t think the Phillies think it’s right. But by not saying anything, they looked like they simply don’t care. Oh, one of our players beat up his wife, oh well, let’s move on, there’s a game to be played. And they didn’t even really do everything right yesterday, either. Among other things, could either prez Dave Montgomery or GM Pat Gillick have made themselves for comment, instead of leaving it up to Charlie Manuel? (CHARLIE MANUEL!!)

Hopefully, the Phillies will get Kim and Brett the help they need, whatever they need and hopefully this story can have some sort of happy ending. But with their track record, well…

The Phils, though, have done one thing that at least makes sense. Brett Myers Back to School Pack Day is now:

See? That’s a start.

Myers granted leave of absence [Phillies.com]
Phil Sheridan | After stumbling, it’s too late for Phils to wipe slate clean [Inquirer]
Archives: Brett Myers

Boo! To… Kim Myers? Really?

The Daily News‘ Jen Armstrong — clearly, peeping hot trends that haven’t been reported yet — weighs in on the Phillies’ reaction to the arrest of Brett Myers.

Or, rather, the lack of reaction, since he pitched at Fenway Park the following day, isn’t suspended, etc. Armstrong also tells people to email Charlie Manuel to tell them how they feel, which makes an assumption I don’t know that I’d make, i.e. that Cholly knows how to use his email. (Ba-dum-pum.)

She also talks with the executive director of Women in Transition as well as a family-law attorney, who gives this quote (emphasis mine):

Lynne Gold-Bikin, a family-law attorney and past chairwoman of the American Bar Association’s family-law section, agreed, saying, “Am I pissed off? Yes, I think they people should not go to any games in which he pitches.

“If people truly believe domestic violence is an issue, they ought to walk with their feet and say this is not appropriate,” she continued. “And boo to the wife who bailed him out.”

Yes, booooo, Kim Myers, booooo! Rubbish. Filth. Slime. Muck. Boo. Boo. Boo. You were probably in a perfect state of mind after allegedly being attacked by your husband and clearly should have done the decision the former chairwoman of the American Bar Association’s family law section would have wanted!

That being said, Armstrong later does point out that it’s not uncommon for wives to post bail for their husbands. I don’t know what Gold-Bikin thinks of all of them, but I would like to use this space to offer the Phillies another piece of advice. I know you’ve gotten a lot of it, and I know you seemingly haven’t accepted much or any of it, but I think this one is a no-brainer:

Might want to cancel that ASAP.

Update: It’s been changed.

Jenice Armstrong | For the Phillies: Boo! [Daily News]
Archives: Brett Myers

You Wouldn’t Like Brett Myers When He’s Angry

Over the weekend, Phillies pitcher Brett Myers started despite being arrested for wife-beating the day before.

Sports columnists reacted pretty much how you’d expect them to act: With a stick up their asses. (Oh, wait, that’s every other time.) They did, however, heap loads of scorn on the Phillies for letting Myers start, on Myers for allegedly beating up his wife, etc. (For a wrap-up of reactions, Blinq’s got the goods. Someone blames everything on Kim Myers in the comments. Go have a ball.)

But I think more telling than anything written this weekend is this from Myers’ Wikipedia page (somebody spellcheck this thing while you’re there, please):

In a staple of every Phillies game known as “Ask the Players”, while most players responded to the question of “Who was your hero growing up?” with a baseball player, Brett Myers stated that his hero was “The Hulk”

Looks like he’s a little too into that hero.

Update: Via Brad Maule, we have some Hulk-like antics from Myers in early 2005.

Brett Myers [Wikipedia]
Chicken Phillie [Blinq]
Myers Flips Out Following Press Luncheon [Can't Stop The Bleeding]
Friday: Phillies Pitcher Brett Myers Arrested

Phillies Pitcher Brett Myers Arrested

Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife this morning in Boston.

According to the Associated Press, Myers and his wife got into an argument in downtown Boston, and Myers’ wife, Kim Wickman, and two witnesses told police Myers hit her. His wife posted Myers’ $200 bail.

His next hearing is Aug. 4. He doesn’t have to attend his next hearing in person.

Things just keep getting better and better for the Phillies, don’t they?

Brett Myers arrested, charged with assaulting wife [AP/Philly.com]