June 26, 2006
Phillies Strike Out
The team, of course, strikes out on a regular basis. But the Phils' management team (an oxymoron if I've ever seen one) has let us down big time by all but refusing to deal with wife-beating man child Brett Myers.
When Myers -- all 6-foot-4, 250 pounds of him -- slugged his wife, pulled her hair and pulled her top over her face like they were engaged in a hockey fight in front of multiple witnesses in Boston early Friday, he should have been looking at a couple nights in a cell and some time on the bench.
When he made his scheduled start on Saturday and followed it up with a remorseless comment -- "I'm sorry it had to get public, that's it." -- Phils employees should have been gathering in front of his locker at Citizens Bank Park with cardboard boxes and shipping labels.
And yet Myers is still slated to pitch in Toronto this week. Beating your wife is a hell of a lot worse than making fun of your quarterback and demanding a new contract -- behavior that got former Eagles loudmouth Terrell Owens benched for the season last year. Owens never broke a law or beat the bejesus out of anyone in public. But the Eagles -- perhaps recognizing that condoning boorish behavior on a pro level sends an awful message to superstar-idolizing kids -- sent their best player home. End of story. Half-ass your apology? You're double gone.
The Phillies are, at best, a team that will win 70-something games this year, good enough for third place. Myers won't get them to the playoffs, and even if he did, is it worth it? It is worth letting a guy who pounded the mother of his kids to pitch in front of thousands of other families at the Money Pit?
Is it worth minimizing the problem of domestic violence? Speaking of which, here's a fun number for the wizards in the Phillies front office to consider: Kids who grow up watching their dads throw their moms around like a rosin bag have a 74 percent higher likelihood of committing violent crimes as adults, according to the Silent Witness National Initiative. Myers and his wife have two kids.
Look, I could be wrong. Maybe the Phillies plan to trade Myers next month or drop him at the end of the year. Maybe they'll listen to some local groups and suspend him. But thus far, the Phillies haven't given us any reason to believe they will rise to the occasion and do the right thing. And that means that the team and their abusive player have something in common: neither deserves our respect.