Brett Myers: Even when he's good, he's bad

Christine and I didn't watch baseball together tonight. She stayed upstairs to watch the Phillies, and I was downstairs watching the Red Sox on WGN. (I forgot how bad the homer White Sox announcers are; they're probably worse than tonight's birthday boy Chris Wheeler.)

She came downstairs to report that Brett Myers was pitching well. That's nice, I thought, I can compliment on him on his third consecutive good start, which I will do. He pitched 7 2/3, giving up one earned, five hits and one walk with six strikeouts as the Phils beat the Pirates 4-2.

The only problem is that when Charlie Manuel lifted him in the 8th with only 93 pitches, Myers threw another hissy fit. Cholly obviously wanted J.C. Romero in with a lefty coming up and a man on second in a 3-1 game. But young Brett, who sometimes confuses himself with Pedro Martinez circa 2000, was yelling and screaming all the way to the dugout.

Cholly, who seems tired of being shown up by a pitcher who had to be demoted this year, went right after him in the dugout, poking a finger in his chest. The manager needed to be restrained. I think it's obvious whose side this blog is on.

In his post-game comments, Cholly took the high road, calling it a disagreement between two strong-willed people and a sign that Myers' confidence is back.

We wondered whether they gave player of the game to Jimmy Rollins because of Myers' outburst, although J-Roll did have a good game, 4-4 with two runs, two triples and a stolen base.

Competitors: Mets beat the Marlins and trail the Phils by one. Florida dropped to 2.5 games out.

Red Sox: As I said, I actually got to watch them tonight. I thought they would automatically be the lead story since it was a rare chance to write about them from observation, rather than box score. Thanks, Brett.

Anyhoo, Daisuke Matsuzaka was the story tonight, improving to 13-2 with a 6-2 win over the White Sox. It wasn't a typically ugly Dice-K win. Other than allowing four lead-off hitters to reach base, Matsuzaka was actually efficient. With only 106 pitches through eight, I was surprised Terry Francona didn't let him go out for the 9th. I hope Matsuzaka didn't go Brett Myers on Francona.

In his eight innings, Dice gave up one earned on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. David Ortiz went 3-5 with a run and three RBIs, which came on a bases-loaded double. Jim Thome hit a meaningless home run in the 9th - I mention because I picked him up this week for my fantasy team.

Competitors: The Twins won, the Yankees lost and the Rays are losing early in the game.