The first inning went pretty well for Brett Myers. Just like in his last outing, he threw a lot of fastballs to start. Plus, he got some help from the Louisville Bats. Chris Dickerson, the first hitter of the game, popped up on the first pitch. Former big leaguer Rob Mackowiak worked an eight-pitch walk after Myers got ahead 0-2.
But Myers got out of the inning when he got Aaron Herr to ground into a 1-6-3 double play on the first pitch.
Needless to say, Louisville isn’t very patient.
Interestingly, Aaron Herr is from Lancaster, Pa. where he was a star baseball player for Hempfield High just like his dad, Tom Herr. Tom, of course, played for a long time with the Cardinals, Twins and Phillies before he quickly got washed up and caught on with the Mets and Giants. Tom Herr also managed the Lancaster Barnstormers in the sandlot league Atlantic League before he spent one season managing in the Nationals chain.
Aaron Herr was a first-round pick for the Braves in the 2000 draft, but still hasn’t made it to the Majors. He’s has played in the Braves, Reds, Indians and Cardinals organizations, but for one reason or another hasn’t gotten the big call.
Even more interesting than that, Lancaster resident Gordie Jones is sitting to my left.
The Lanc is definitely in the house tonight!
Anyway, Myers allowed a run in the second after the Bats scratched out three straight singles. None of them were hit particularly hard, but it is worth noting that Myers is throwing strikes – 19 of his 24 pitches in the second were strikes – and he is using the fastball exclusively.
Still, after two Myers is trailing, 1-0.
On another note, Ricky Bottalico is the TV analyst for the Pigs’ games. He’s pretty good though I suspect the FCC ought to tune in from time to time just in case. Before the game, Ricky talked to a couple of writers and then went on the tee-vee to talk to the good folks at CSN and dropped this little nugget on Myers:
“This whole situation is partially in his head,” Ricky Bo said. “He just seems a little confused. I think he was confused at the whole situation at the beginning of the season. When you don't put your heart into something you're really not going to do well in your job, and I don't think he's put his heart into the starting rotation at all.”