Phillies pitcher Brett Myers, who was arrested last Thursday and charged with assaulting his wife on the streets of Boston, has announced a leave of absence from the team that will last through the All-Star Break. Probably a good idea, though it should have been announced last Friday, as opposed to today.
The Phils unquestionably flubbed the ball in not disciplining Myers immediately or coming out forcefully enough against domestic violence. But the past few days of fan hysteria have made two things very clear: That Myers almost certainly cannot continue to pitch in Philadelphia for much longer, and that by this point, a lot of the fans are just using the Myers thing as a club with which to beat up on an organization that they despised even before this happened.
But finally, I'm with Jayson Stark on this: "The Phillies don't always deserve the treatment they get in Philadelphia. But not this time. Whatever the price they wind up paying for Brett-gate, they've earned it all."
Posted by Stephen Silver at June 28, 2006 12:20 AM