Phillies: Q&A with former Phillies pitcher Brett Myers

What was your favorite pitch in your arsenal?

Brett Myers: My favorite pitch was a strike. I liked throwing strikes [laughs]. My go-to pitch when I was struggling was my curveball. I’ve thrown it my whole life and have always been a curveball guy. I didn’t learn a slider/cutter until around 2005 or 2006 under Rich Dubee, and I didn’t develop a decent changeup until 2010. Learning those other pitches changed my whole perspective on how to attack hitters.

Who was the toughest hitter you faced during your career?

Brett Myers: Everybody thinks it’s Barry Bonds or one of the bigger guys, but I could not get the scrappy hitters out for the life of me. David Eckstein was a pain. I could not throw something nasty enough to get him out. He would always run up my pitch count so I started to just throw it down the middle and see how far he could hit it just to get past him in the lineup [laughs].

What made the 2008 Phillies team so special?

Brett Myers: We got a small taste of the playoffs in 2007. Then, we came back in 2008 and Jimmy Rollins said we were the team to beat. For me personally, it was special because of all of the adversity I faced. I had a terrible first half of the season and got sent down to the minors. It was a wake-up call, and I came back as a different pitcher. I just kept the game plan simple.

All of the pitchers in that rotation fed off of each other. We all talked about how to attack each hitter in the opponents’ lineup. I had Joe Blanton to talk to and Cole Hamels had Jamie Moyer to talk to. We were all competitive and wanted to outdo whoever pitched the night before.