Howard quietly stirring to life
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Howard quietly stirring to life
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Roy Halladay was in the middle of talking about the balanced, one-through-nine offensive attack from the Phillies last night, a performance he called the best of the season, when he decided to single one player out.
"Howie - I feel like he's really been swinging the bat better in the last few days," Halladay said.
"Howie," of course is Ryan Howard. The same Ryan Howard who was mired in a nightmare of a slump during the last Phillies homestand.
Quietly, the big piece at the center of the Phillies batting order has stirred to life lately. Yes, he homered on Monday; but he also collected his third straight two-hit game.
In his last 12 games, Howard is hitting .347 with a 1.058 OPS, four doubles, four home runs and 13 RBIs.
An encouraging sign of his return was the respect the Reds showed him Monday: Howard was intentionally walked in the fifth inning. The free pass was followed by a John Mayberry Jr. run-scoring single in the midst of an inning that saw the Phils bat around and score four times.
Howard has come a long way in the last two weeks.
On August 5, in the middle of a stretch that saw him hit .150 (6-for-40) with 20 strikeouts in an 11-game stretch, Howard was on the other end of the intentional walk. With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, the Arizona Diamondbacks walked Chase Utley intentionally to take their chances with Howard.
Howard responded with the game-ending hit.
Since that walk-off single, Howard is hitting .321 (17-for-53), raising his season average from .198 to .254.
"I think he’s getting to play more," manager Charlie Manuel said of Howard, who missed spring training and the first four months of the season while recovering from left Achilles surgery.
"And the more he gets to play," Manuel continued, "he’s playing himself into good condition, good shape and he’s getting his swings. He’s getting his swing back, his timing and everything. He missed spring training. And there’s a big difference between playing in Clearwater in the A-league and in the major leagues – the pitching is better. (The pitching is) sharper, the command’s better, everything about it is better. It’s a faster game."
He's having a good August with a 0.355 wOBA, but alarmingly his walk rate is down and his strikeout rate is up. It is more likely due to his very high and unsustainable 0.425 BABIP (i.e. he's getting lucky where some of hits are to). Look for that to flatten out unless his walk rate increases. Fact is, his plate discipline has been pretty poor recently.— 46 and 2- dude skins - do some homework. Do you remember Ryan Howard winning you a WS? Do you remember Howards 3 run bomb to win game 1 against cards, then his bases loaded hit in game 2 to give us 4-0 lead? Series shoulda been over at that point. he led all of MLB in go ahead rbis 4 yrs straight before gettingn hurt. Why cant you enjoy having a great player? Did you boo Schmidt?— Logical1
- Nice to see the big guy making contact. Still think he shouldn't have cut the relay throw off last night. His defensive play needs attention.— dogman5
- Psycho, Howard was at 87.29% on August 16th at 3:33 PM EST. As we speak, he is at 90.05%!— onthebucks
- Angry Al is a dope...if you look at Howard's current numbers, even as hobbled as he is, they project out to mid-30s home runs and over 100 RBIs...like he has been doing that year after year after year, at a rate exceeding anyone else in baseball.— 2dsacker
- Ryan Howard - the Phillies worst fielding First baseman since Dick Stuart. Dr. StrangeGlove 2 !— candidly
- If you toss out the first 5 games back, Howard is hitting .276 and would project to 42 HR and 121 RBI. (Of course he would also project to about 240 Ks as well.)
Oh yes. Given the correlation between hostility and anger on the one hand, and heart disease on the other, Angry Al might do well to get some help.— judas_priest - Agree with "s" -- next year is what matters -- and I'd take a 2011 season from Howard going forward. Something like .265, 35 HR and 110 RBI. You give me that for the next three years and I'd sign up right now. Is that worth $25 million per? No. Would I take it? Way.— eman
- to angry al and the community, my math was wrong in my earlier comment. it would be 32 homers for the year that his 6 week pace shows. But i think if he can be a 30 homer, 100 rbi guy for the remainder of the contract, that provides a solid power bat for the middle of the lineup— kgood
- Get off his back, hes still hurt and really shouldnt be playing, but he is and i thank him for that. I just hope he dont overdue it!!— huntnmike3666
- Just think of this entire season as an extended spring training.— p-diddy
- I usually rip the guy, but it's nice to see he's making contact and spraying some hits around.— dogman5
- angry al, 8 home runs in 6 weeks is close to 50 for the year. Not saying he is going to return to 50, but those are good power numbers
— kgood - Howard should have been brought back slower during the first month of his comeback. I dont know if it's loyalty or laziness on Manuel's part to play him every day.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- It will take Ryan Howard the rest of this season, then Spring training to get back to being the real Ryan Howard. Insofar the "estimates" of where he is, that is the sheerest nonsense. At some point after Spring Training he is likely to be as close the the real Ryan Howard as he will ever be. Just happy to see the boo boo birdies haven't had a chance to start chirping as yet!— BEMiller
- As close to the real RH as he will ever be is about right and I suspect it will be the same RH that Chris Carpenter was laughing at the at bat before he got hurt. You remember that ,right? The one where he had a 3-0 count in a one zip elimination ball game and swung at ball four and the SO. That picture is seared in my mind and I am hoping against hope that in the rest of the rehab he will change his approach back from dead pull hitter to what he was before Barry Bonds ruined him. He needs to be RH of old and hit to all fields for average and power and move up at the plate instead of the BB style of trying to hit thru the shift. Maybe he should look at Big Papi tapes and see his approach and erase the BB approach from his mind. He could have been the greatest of all time and why he refuses to return to what worked so well for him is just mind numbing.
— DUDESKINS - "Howard Quietly Stirring to Life"......Seriously??? He's hitting .254 with only 8 home runs. So he's hit a hot streak at the moment....so what? To say it's a sign he's coming to life is QUITE A STRETCH.— ANGRY AL 2
- "Howard Quietly Stirring to Life"......Seriously??? He's hitting .254 with only 8 home runs. So he's hit a hot streak at the moment....so what? To say it's a sign he's coming to life is QUITE A STRETCH.— ANGRY AL 2
- You're being ludicrous. Just say you do not like Ryan Howard it would be more subtle than your rant above. You have to consider the situation before you reach your predisposed conclusion. Refer to name. — bpositiv
- I've seen him lay off the low, away sliders. Now that is encouraging!— verve
- I knew he was still hurting from the achilles. He is the man the Phillies feed off of. Next year Ryan will be a beast.— grimm39
- Lee and Halladay, with 9 wins combined need to worry about themselves, RH will be fine.....Hamels with 14 wins has put these two overpaid guys to shame. It's easy to talk of other's performances to deflect from your own shabby play, all season.— boasocal
- Glad to see some positive and accurate comments here for a change. It takes a year to recover from an achilles tear. Just ask Demarco Ryans— bobf876
- onthebucks-I think he's closer to 87.29%— PsychoPathetic1
- It's all about next year for Howard. His injury always required at least a full year for him to start getting back to what he's capable of. Everyone just wanted to believe otherwise.— s
- Howard was said to be approximately 85% of his usual self when he came back to the Phils from the DL. Carefully watching his progress, I'd say he's at 90% right now. This respite has allowed him to develop a different plate discipline. He appears to be seeing the ball better and showing more patience at the plate. He has hit a few nice homers since he returned and most of his long balls have been by virtue of his hand, wrists and arms with much less contribution from his feet, ankles and legs. My prediction is that Ryan Howard will be the Comeback Player of the Year in 2013 and that the Phils will pick up where they left off in 2008.— onthebucks
- Trade him now while you have the chance!!!!— Joe Vegas
- he's coming off a torn achilles for f**k's sake...give him some time.— AlexSp
- let's also remember, he's not even 100%.— AlexSp
