Note: This is part one of three in discussing the biggest sports news of the summer in Philly. Next up is the Sixers, followed by the Eagles.

It's been a very entertaining summer so far in the city of Philadelphia, in terms of sports news. There have been many stories concerning the Phillies; some are over six-weeks old and some are still ongoing. Let's recap all the drama and analyze the results.

A little before summer began, June 13 to be exact, the Phillies stood 13 games over .500, which was their high-water mark of the season. And at that time, they held a four-game lead over the Marlins and a 7.5-game lead on the Mets.

Since that time, the Phillies have been very inconsistent. They dropped to as low as only five games over .500 three different times since then, along with losing streaks of six games and four games (twice).

As a result, they find themselves now in second place, two-and-a-half games back of the Mets. Their summer swoon has mostly been driven by a struggling offense, although there have been a variety of issues that this team has dealt with in the last two months.

BRETT MYERS

Recap

On July 1, a struggling Brett Myers accepted a minor-league assignment to basically clear his head and find himself again. Prior to his demotion, Myers was 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA.

After his first start on the farm, which was unimpressive, Myers made a comment about how it felt to be a closer and said it was like “being a rockstar.” Myers apparently still wanted to be a closer, but the Phillies all but shut that door when they re-signed Lidge to a three-year contract extension a few days later. 

Myers settled down during his next few minor-league starts, striking out a good amount of batters in the process. He returned to the majors on July 21 and since then has gone 3-1 with 1.94 ERA and is looking more and more like the No. 2 starter the Phillies had pegged him for this season.

In his last start, he pitched a complete-game shutout, fanning nine in the process and lowering his season ERA to a more respectable 4.71.

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