Phillies Notebook: Phillies pitcher Myers says he wasn't playing, he tripped

ATLANTA - The good news for the Phillies is that Brett Myers' hip continues to respond well to rehabilitation. The bad news is that what he says was a freak accident to his eye could push his first rehab start back a week.

Myers, who said he injured the eye after falling out of his family's truck, was examined by ophthalmologist John Michaelos in Clearwater today and cleared to resume throwing. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said through a team spokesman that Myers is tentatively scheduled to throw a bullpen session in the middle of the week. Such a schedule would mean that he won't make his first rehab start until at least Friday.

While the Phillies do not expect the injury to prevent Myers from reaching his goal of returning to the team as a reliever next month, the situation has hardly been conventional. Myers told the team Saturday morning that he injured himself playing catch with his 4-year old son, Kolt. But a short while later, he informed the team that he had lied, and that the injury actually occurred when he tripped and face-planted after exiting one of his family's trucks. When he awoke Saturday morning, the eye was swollen shut.

Myers had spent Friday evening with a small group of people at Shannon's Irish Pub in Jacksonville, Fla., according to two people who were at the restaurant that night. While Myers was there, a fight broke out involving one of Myers' friends, the manager on duty told the Daily News yesterday. But the manager, Jeremy Reed, said Myers was not involved in the altercation and that he looked perfectly healthy when he left the restaurant.

Police were called. A message left with the Duval County Sheriff's Office was not returned.

Myers and his group were at the restaurant until at least 12:30 a.m., according to one patron.

Reed said he personally served Myers three draft beers, but could not say if the righthander had ordered drinks from any other bartender on duty.

Myers told the Phillies' official Web site that alcohol was not a factor in the eventual freak accident, which he says occurred after the group arrived home, and that he initially lied to the team because he was embarrassed.

Myers' agent, Craig Landis, did not return a phone message left by the Daily News.

Manuel has made a small adjustment to his lineup in the last two games, moving Jayson Werth from No. 6 to No. 5 and Raul Ibanez from No. 5 to No. 6. The move was designed to take some impact away from the Braves' three lefthanded relievers, including setup man Mike Gonzalez.

Because Werth entered last night hitting .302 with 10 home runs in 116 at-bats against lefties, he would make it harder for Bobby Cox to keep one lefty in the game to face Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Ibanez in succession.

"They have three lefties down there and they bring them up," Manuel said. "Ibanez has been hitting lefties good all season and so has Werth. I just wanted to bust them up so when they bring them in late in the game. He has three lefties there and he likes to use them all. That can cut off at least two times around our lefties hitting."

Ibanez entered last night hitting .255 with five home runs, 19 RBI and 29 strikeouts in 106 at-bats since returning from a 21-game stint on the disabled list with a strained groin, but he went 2-for-4 with two doubles in the Phillies' 4-3 loss to the Braves Saturday. Before being placed on the DL, Ibanez hit .312 with 22 home runs, 59 RBI and 49 strikeouts in 250 at-bats.

Former Phillies prospect Jason Knapp, who was traded to the Indians as part of the Cliff Lee deal, made his second start for the Class A Lake County Captains yesterday. The righthander allowed two earned runs and struck out five in 3 2/3 innings . . . The Phillies went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position in their 4-3 loss to the Braves on Saturday and entered last night with one hit in their last 16-at-bats with runners in scoring position.