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Resurgent Myers tries to continue strong second half vs. Marlins

Sep 10, 2008 - 10:11 AM Florida (73-72) at Philadelphia (79-66) 4:05 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Through the first half of the season, Brett Myers appeared lost. Since accepting a three-week, confidence-building mission to the minors in early July, opposing hitters look clueless.

The red-hot Myers attempts to keep the Philadelphia Phillies in the heat of the playoff race on Wednesday when they face the Florida Marlins.

Despite the addition of Joe Blanton in mid-July, Philadelphia's best pitcher since the trade deadline has been the resurgent Myers (9-10, 4.19 ERA), who was 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA and had allowed a major league-leading 24 home runs in 17 starts when he accepted a minor league assignment on July 1.

Even though he recorded a no-decision in his return to majors on July 23, the righthander has been magnificent since, going 6-1 with a 1.55 ERA, second-best in the majors behind only the Brewers' CC Sabathia.

Most significant in his stark improvement has been holding opposing hitters to a .227 batting average while cutting his walk rate nearly in half.

Myers turned in one of his best performances on Friday, yielding three hits and two walks over eight dominant innings in a 3-0 victory over the National League East-leading Mets (81-63), who the Phillies now trail by 2 1/2 games.

During his four-start winning streak, the righthander has lasted at least seven innings and struck out eight in each outing.

His opponent will be Ricky Nolasco (13-7, 3.56), who is unbeaten over his last five turns, although he has not factored into the decision in three of those starts. The righthander was saddled with his second consecutive no-decision in Friday's 4-1 win over the Cardinals, despite allowing one run and six hits over seven frames.