Philles veteran pitcher and drawer of crucial walks, Brett Myers, is still on the 60-day DL nursing a bum right hip.  He is doing his best to work his way back so he can still play in 2009, and at this point in his rehab, should be starting a long-toss program to ease himself into shape.  Well fuck that, Myers ain’t got time for all that long-tossing and shit.  He’s jumping right in to some simulated games.  From the Daily News:

“I threw everything, the whole kitchen sink,” Myers said of his 21-pitch outing. “I threw basically, like, an inning.”

[...]

“Sunday, I will be right back out there doing a sim-game, then see where that takes me,” he said. “I think they are going to keep me around 20 to 30 pitches to simulate, like, an inning or so. Maybe I will get up to two innings a little bit later.”

The addition of Brett Myers would be an awfully nice option to have out of the ‘pen, but it would also pile on their current problem of too much pitching (I still can’t figure out if that is a problem).  Not so much when the rosters expand in the beginning of September; moreso when they have to trim down to 11 or 12 pitchers for the playoffs.

These are the fellas who would be prime candidates for a spot:

Clifton Phifer Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, Jay Happ, Brett Myers, Clay Condrey, JC Romero, Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, Chan Ho Park, Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, and I’m assuming either Jamie Moyer or Pedro Martinez.  For the sake of argument, we’ll toss Rodrigo Lopez, Kyle Kendrick, and Tyler Walker off the list right now. That still leaves 14 legitimate options for 11 spots.   If everyone is healthy, that will be a difficult choice to make.

But here I am getting waaay ahead of myself talking about playoff rosters in early August.  Forget I even said anything.

Phillies’ Myers says he feels fine after simulated game | Daily News

Hip surgery…  HIP FUCKING SURGERY!

By way of Todd Zolecki’s “The Phillies Zone”

Chase Utley will have right hip surgery, and will miss the next four to six months.

The Phillies said in a news release that since the end of the World Series, Utley “has had several diagnostic studies in regards to right hip symptoms that he had during the 2008 season.” He has been evaluated by team physician Michael Ciccotti at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

The release said, “Based on the diagnostic studies and examinations, it has been recommended that Utley have surgery on his right hip, which is scheduled for next week. The procedure will be an arthroscopic evaluation with treatment of any labral or bony injury. The recovery will allow for the initiation of baseball activities between three and four months, however, the total recovery time may require four to six months.”

Four to six months means Utley could be back as early as the beginning of the season and as late as June.

Well, the Phillies just released Tadahito Iguchi, and [even though] Eric Bruntlett most likely won’t return is under team control for like 2 more years bro*…

Jason Donald it is! Who, might I add, tore the Arizona Fall League up this year.

Get well soon, Chase.

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