Kern: Ryan Howard isn't the first to stay too long

I wish it wasn't ending like this, a sentiment that I'm sure all parties involved share.

It's happened to the greatest. Are you old enough to remember Willie Mays playing out his career as a shell of his all-galactic self with the Mets? Or Steve Carlton continuing to pitch for what seemed like just about every team in the major leagues when it was apparent to everyone except him that it was simply time?

If you're a fan, they're not the kind of memories you want to carry with you.
So I'll remember Willie for The Catch in the 1954 World Series and when he was the Say Hey Kid playing stickball with the kids in Harlem. Or Lefty as the guy who won 27 games for a team that won roughly twice that many in 1972, when he was the only reason to visit the Vet.

Those are the kind of things I'll savor. And I'll hardly be the only one.
It's all part of what makes sports what they are, an escape from the everyday world.

In the future, the Phillies are going to have reunions where they'll celebrate the 2008 World Series champions. And Ryan Howard's No. 6 will go up on the walls of Citizens Bank Park at some point.

And they will be moments to savor, especially if the Phils haven't won any more titles by then. And Howard will get the reception he deserves, for all he did here. He's the best first baseman in the team's history, just like Jimmy Rollins is the best shortstop and Chase Utley the best second baseman. For five years or so, he was great. And then he wasn't. And by then he was making a lot of money. His slide coincided with the team's decline. It obviously wasn't all his fault, but he has become the symbol of everything that went wrong since 2011. It's not fair, but that's life sometimes. He has to live with it, and so do we.

But it's becoming embarrassing. And it was that way before some imbecile decided to throw a bottle at him on the field. And chances are, it's going to get only worse as the season moves along. He's not the starter anymore, or a worthy cleanup guy. Not even in this lineup. He's not going to be here next year. The Phils probably should have found a more amicable/appropriate way to part ways with him before this. But it's not that easy, because of who he is and what he represents.

Still, the last thing you want to do as an organization is make this situation any worse than it has to be. At this stage that might be unavoidable. But for someone who wants to remember Ryan Howard for what he once was, it's become almost impossible to watch. Even if that was inevitable, it's still sad.

I don't want to see him go out like this. Who does? Yet unless the Phils release him, the eggshells everyone seems to be walking on aren't going anywhere. Neither are the questions, which nobody wants to ask let alone answer. I don't have the solution, but that's not my job. I can only hope that somehow he finds a way to play at least a little better, and that the fans understand his plight and realize this team isn't going anywhere anyway and just kind of let it be for another three months. And then give him a standing ovation when it's finally all over.

The city owes it to him. And ourselves.

I wish only that there had been another way.