Brett Myers: Wife-Beater Scum

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers assaulted his wife Kim over the weekend in Boston. It was violent enough that multiple witnesses called 911. Normally we'd post this over at Double Technical, since it's sports-related. But since it's an off-field incident, we'll keep it here.

Myers pitched Saturday as scheduled against the Red Sox - no suspension, no leave of absence, no nothing. The Phillies, predictably, announced they really had no comment other than to comment after the case worked its way through the legal system. Myers didn't help by the following:

Asked what he was feeling, what his state of mind was, and whether he was embarrassed by the situation, the 25-year-old pitcher responded: "I'm sorry it had to get public, that's it. Of course, it's embarrassing."

Option One: Do nothing and let Myers pitch. The Phillies did that. Oops.

Option Two: Don't put him out there. And if the Phillies had simply not put Myers out there Saturday? As WIP's Glen Macnow noted on tonight's crossover with Howard Eskin, exactly what wrong would the Phillies have done there? And if the MLB Players Association filed a grievance, exactly what or who would they be supporting? A wife-beater? A wife-beater's right to work? I'm sorry, that's alleged wife-beater. Too bad for Kim Myers it wasn't in public. Oh it was? Right on the street?

Option Three: Suspend Myers without pay. Harsher than suspending him with pay for a certain time period, but who decides when the time period is over? And doesn't Myers have a right to be considered innocent until proven guilty? (never mind the multiple eyewitnesses, they're all Red Sox fans - except for the Phillies employee who also witnessed it).

Newspaper columnist reaction was swift on the issue:

Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News:

While nobody came right out and blurted, "She probably had it coming," Kim Myers got about as much backing as a Combat Zone hooker caught with a john's wallet. You better believe that if Myers had been denied his lustily booed Fenway start, some would have insisted he was the real victim.

None of this is remotely surprising, however.

While proving that they value the integrity of the five-man rotation over the right of women not to be used as punching bags, the Phillies did not stray an inch from organizational character....

If the Phillies had a real bunker instead of the hypothetical fortress in which they have encapsulated their stonewalls for decades, it would be adorned with signs and slogans.

The centerpiece would look something like a mathematical formula with words to this effect:

No Arrest + No Witnesses + No Media = It Never Happened.

Never happened...

Oh, you might have heard a rumor in a couple of days that something went down between a player and his wife outside the hotel. You might even be able to dig out the entire story, right down to whether the alleged blows were open-hand slaps or fisted right crosses - and how many. Then where do you go with it? Nowhere, that's where. You just file it away with all the rest of the stuff accumulated over time in the bunker behind the stone wall.

Jim Salisbury of the Inquirer:

Myers has been charged with domestic assault and battery and the best he can do is say he's sorry it went public.

Someone needs to speak with this guy.

Myers pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been advised by his legal counsel not to discuss the alleged assault, which happened in front of enough people that "multiple" 911 calls were placed, according to the Boston police report. Maybe Myers believed he'd be admitting guilt if he said he was sorry for what happened, sorry he inflicted pain on his wife.

Whatever the case, he sure sounded pretty bad as he stood in the middle of the visitors' clubhouse at Fenway Park after another Phillies loss and said he was sorry the situation had to go public, as if it would have been any less inexcusable and appalling had it happened in private.

More proof that Myers doesn't get it came when he was asked whether there was anything he wanted to say to the fans.

"Nothing, really," he said. "I gave it my all."

Well, that's good to hear.

More to come I'm sure, and none of it good. Maybe if the Phillies had some backbone, they'd do the right thing. But apparently the fact that Myers was their best pitcher knocked something off kilter in the minds of Phillies President David Montgomery and General Manager Pat Gillick. Better take a long look in the mirror, fellas. God help you if you have wives and daughters.