Ryan Howard 's Left Feat

Ryan Howard finally hit a 2011 home run off a lefthanded pitcher Wednesday, ending a streak of 173 homerless at-bats (including postseason) vs. southpaws.

Howard (shown above after connecting on a grand slam against Pirates LHP Jack Taschner last season) has never been able to replicate the overall stats versus LHP he managed during his MVP 2006 season. And some years, his numbers against southpaws have been hard to look at.

But he has managed to belt double-digit homers off LHPs in four of the last five seasons. If he could reach that number again this year, they might win the division by 30 games.

His year-by-year stats vs. lefthanders: