"Having made his way back from New York, Brett Myers was sitting in the Phillies' clubhouse after tonight's 5-4 win over the Nationals. And he spoke candidly - and volumniously - about his gut-wrenching decision, but ultimately sensible, decision to have hip surgery.

"I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. [Dr. Bryan Kelly] pretty much flat-out today told me that he can give me a cortisone shot, but that's just going to make it worse. Any time 'hip replacement' comes out of a doctor's mouth, that's not good. He made it clear that further damage could lead to that.

"I've never had surgery before, so I don't know what kind of pain I'm going to be in. He told me it's similar to Chase [Utley's], but he's more precautious with pitchers than he would be with position players because of the constant use of the hip and the leg and the way we contort our bodies. I told him, 'I want to be back in September,' but he's like, 'It's kind of a long shot.'

"When he told me today that there's a chance, if I do the cortisone shot, you could mess the labrum up more, wear the cartilage down more. A cortisone shot may relieve some of the pain and pressure, but it's not going to relieve the popping and the clicking and the locking up of the hip. I was like, 'I can get through that. I've went through that pretty much the whole year.' But he also told me, 'You can hurt your arm possibly because you'll lose strength in your hip, and you won't be using your lower half to throw the ball.' I'm like, 'That makes sense, too. Is there any way away from surgery?' He's like, 'No, regardless of whether you finish pitching this year or get it now, it's going to have to be done, and if you tear it even more or mess it up even more, in five or 10 years, there's a possibility of a hip replacement.' So, I was like, 'Uh, can we go now?' I mean, it's not painful to walk or anything like that, so I didn't think it was anything serious."