Ryan Howard does not think the Phillies are old, and that you should ignore them at your own peril
An energetic Ryan Howard said he is back to normal after a year spent recovering from Achilles surgery. And he disagrees with the public perception about the Phillies.
Ryan Howard does not think the Phillies are old, and that you should ignore them at your own peril
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The Big Piece sounded more like the Big Aristotle. Or, rather, the Big Tony Robbins.
An energetic and optimistic Ryan Howard labeled himself back to normal after a year spent battling the effects of Achilles surgery, and he labeled the Phillies a contender that is being unduly downgraded by the public.
"First, I want to address this 'old' thing, because that's all I keep hearing," Howard said late Thursday morning. "People keep talking about older, and older and older. There's a guy in this league in Jamie Moyer, who I'm sure people told him he was old and this and that, but Jamie Moyer would go out every year and show people that he can play and get it done. I don't buy into the whole old thing. It's about how young you feel inside. It's all about how well you take care of yourself.
"Everybody in this clubhouse goes out and works their butt off. Everybody goes in the offseason and we train and we do what we need to do. If people want to call us old, that's fine, but I think going out there this year we're going to show people that we're not old. As far as the Nationals and the other teams in the division, it's going to be a great division, it's going to be a fun division to watch. They had a great year last year, but once again, we had a lot of injuries.
"So call us old if you want to, that's fine if you want to sweep us under the rug, just don't be surprised. Don't be surprised."
Howard said that last season he was essentially playing on one leg because he had not redeveloped the muscles in the left leg that was operated on and immobilized after surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles in October of 2011. This year, he says those muscles are back, and the mental block that is often associated with traumatic injuries is gone.
"It's one of those things where you just weren't 100 percent confident in it," he said. "You can't do all the things that you would normally do. Sometimes you might try to make a cut or do something that you would normally do and you might feel something. Yeah, there's always going to be that little bit of fear in that back of your mind that you might rupture it again or what not, but now it's not even a second thought in my mind."
Howard missed the first three months of last season, then struggled when he returned.
"You don't realize how important spring training is until you don't have one," he said. "Being able to be here, create the chemistry with my teammates, just being healthy, just being ready to go."
Howard was particularly bad against lefties, hitting just .173 against them. He said he is focused on improving his performance in those situations, and believes he has the ability to hit lefties like he did in 2006, when his average was over .270 and his OPS over .900 against southpaws.
"I think (the problem is) a combination of listening to the noise, trying to please people, trying to go out there and people saying, oh, he can't hit lefties, I have to show them that I can hit lefties," Howard said. "Obviously, to get to the big leagues you have to hit lefties and righties. Like I said, putting all that aside and trusting in my ability. I know I can hit lefties, it's just a matter of going up there, being relaxed, having good ABs, getting good pitches and putting good swings on them."
Howard said his surgically-repaired leg is a non-issue.
"I want to go out and play 162 games and every game in the playoffs and the World Series," he said.
Is that realistic?
"Yeah, why not," he said. "That's what the offseason is for. That's why I train. That's why I do what I do, to go out there and try to play 162. I'm not the kind of guy who just wants to come out here and play 150 games and be cool with that."
Yo Ryan, I feel another World Series win this year!!! I'll be watching every game!— ricciaje- wow, Ryan talks a good game.
unfortunately there's a good deal more to the game than talking.
— ekw555 - Ryan's such a class act. He's the key to this season, IMO. If he has a bad year, the team will go nowhere. Of course that outfield leaves much to be desired so I'm not real optimistic anyway. But hopefully they prove the naysayers (including me) wrong.— dundermifflin
- This is what I like to hear. Injuries killed this team last year. Now they're all back, they're all healthy, and they're better than they were in the 2nd half of last season, when they put up a .600 winning percentage after trading Pence & Victorino. A healthy Howard, a healthy Utley, a healthy Halladay, a healthy 3rd baseman who can produce, Hamels, Lee, Papelbon, Rollins, a much better bullpen...I can't wait for the season to start!— Dave14
- Dave: You do realize that when they had that winning percentage after trading 2/3 of their outfield that they were out of it by then and there was no pressure on them, right?
- Love it, Dave14! I echo all your opinions and must add that I feel the Phils' bullpen is going to be one of the best in the league - the youngsters, with the addition of Adams and Durbin, won't press like they did last year. PLAY BALL!— dwp66
- Enjoyed the talk, excited for the walk.— evolutionary
- Platoon him with Ruf. He's a left handed Dave Kingman only not a good. He seems like a real good and nice person but as a player he's way over rated. Can't hit lefties and that's all he see's, when he's needed most, in any late inning, game on the line situation. Opposing manager pops of the dugout waving his left arm for any AA - AAA caliber LHP and RH is reduced to Steve Jeltz with some pop. His pathetic, futile attempts in those situations is sad to watch and unfortunately his Achilles injury wasn't bad enough to end his career so we have to watch a few more seasons with this White Elephant, albatross in the four hole.— jgalt52
- What about Wheeler and McCarthy? Any chance they are traded?— harley525
- Without Ryan Howard, there is no championship in 2008, no five straight trips to the playoffs, back to back World Series. NONE of that would have been possible without his monster second half power numbers. I just hope these imbeciles don't start riding him if he gets off to a slow start. Judge him in July, August and September.— TexKolb
- Sorry guys but Howard is better than Kingman. Higher BA, OBP, and SLG. Consistently more RBIs. Kingman's best HR year was 10 less than Howard's and he only topped 40 that one time in 16 years. RH has already hit more than 40 4 times in 9 years.
You ride Howard for what he is. With a good RH bat behind him he can help drive in a lot of runs. Take it for what it is since he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
I'm curious how good his wheels are. If you recall, the problems started in late 2010. I don't think he was ever right in 2011 which is why some speculate that the cortisone injections for the other ankle issue contributed to the achilles tear. If he were 100% on that ankle no injections would have been needed. If he's truly past all that he could move back toward his 2009/2010 numbers. I don't expect a fountain of youth type return to his MVP year but he could surprise people. I think the big "if" there is how good his ankle really is.— s - Is he a Lou Gehrig? No but then again he's not Travis Lee. While he may not as great as you think he should be,the one thing he is is ours. Without him, we go nowhere. With a healthy Ryan we have a shot.
You can moan about everything (these boards seem to beg for it) but I's rather use sports for a more positive experience. Play ball!— Just Some Guy33 - We will be all right!!!— likhon
- I'd like to see Revere at the top of the lineup but I'd also like to see how putting a RH bat like Michael Young before Howard and a a guy like Ruf or Delmon Young after him works. Remember in 2008 they used to bat Werth ahead of him and Burrell behind him. There are more possibilities for breaking up the lefties in the lineup this year. I think that helps Howard.— s
- good post. have my doubts about Ruf carrying the weight of a 5 hitter, but think I might like the idea if we have a strong bat behind him to force pitchers to pitch to him. ideal scenerio both Youngs are hitting and Charles gets to bookend Howard and Ruf with the Youngs. i really like the idea of Ruf seeing fastballs. Make it happen, Phils.
