Three years ago Brett Myers posted a 3.91 ERA; he struck out 189 in 198 innings, and his OBA was .257. Not amazing numbers, but still a good season. Not as good as ’05’s 3.72/1.21 with 208 Ks, but still good.

And he was 25, then 26. Pitchers are supposed to peak at 30, 31.

Well, Brett’s 27 now. And he’s regressing. He’s getting bad. He’d getting awful. For crissakes, he’s worse than Kyle Lohse!

What’s troubling is that Myers keeps saying that he doesn’t know what’s wrong: “I don’t know,” Myers said last week, “I don’t know what’s wrong.” Then, after getting pasted last night by the Braves, he offered, “I have confidence in every pitch that I’m throwing. There’s not a doubt in my mind that I would throw a different pitch. I’m trying to go right at people. I’m not going to sit back and be bullied around like I am right now.”

Well, if you don’t know what’s wrong, how do you have confidence in every pitch? If you’re wondering why your velocity’s dropped 5 mph in seven months, then how do you have confidence in every pitch you’re throwing?

We’ve all heard the story that has Larry Bowa showing off a young, circa-2002 Myers, bragging that he was standing in close proximity to his team’s future ace. And, for years, it looked like Bowa would be right. But now…

Myers’s fastball used to move; he actually threw a 2-seamer. But now that he’s lost all that velocity, he needs to use the 4-seam fastball. That’s a max-speed pitch. But if your max speed is 88, you’re going to get pounded. Even in the NL.

Brett still has a good curve, but it’s a pitch that guys are hitting over the dugout, into the stands. There’s just not enough separation in terms of velocity to get consistent Ks with an off-speed pitch. And his slider is dead. It’s just flattened out and lost its bite.

What can you expect from him? He’s now throwing long toss between games, trying to build up his arm strength. But maybe that arm strength won’t come back. Maybe it can’t be legislated (wink) back. I’m not saying anything; don’t read into that wink. No, I am not saying that Myers’s decrease in velocity has anything to do with sources other than mysterious, yet-to-be-revealed physiological maladies. He’ll get his speed back through positive thought and magically bent spoons.

But, goddamn it he’s bad right now.