It's May: Howard Heating Up?
Ryan Howard went 2 for 4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs in last night's 3-2 victory over the Padres. The big man is heating up.
It's May: Howard Heating Up?
Todd Zolecki
Let's take a look at Ryan Howard's career splits, which include last night's double and home run in a 3-2 victory over the Padres:
- March and April: .230 with 13 homers and 37 RBIs.
- May: .264 with 21 homers and 55 RBIs.
- June: .280 with 19 homers and 48 RBIs.
- July: .294 with 23 homers and 67 RBIs.
- August: .307 with 26 homers and 81 RBIs.
- September and October: .308 with 33 homers and 79 RBIs.
History shows the man starts very slowly and heats up as the season progresses, so there's no reason to think differently about this season until proven otherwise.
"I'm seeing the ball better," Howard said. "But to be able to come through in a situation like that, it only makes it that much better. When you're not seeing the ball, everything is tough. You don't feel good at all, and everything is just wrong. Now I'm starting to kind of see it, and I'm putting some good passes on it. Hopefully, the results will start to change a little bit."
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In the Phillies Notebook, Brett Myers is long tossing and studying film to find a way to pump up his fastball.
Oh, and he said he's not out of shape.
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Sports Illustrated ran a poll and ranked Citizens Bank Park the 10th best in baseball.
It ranked ballparks in 10 categories. Here is where the Bank ranked in those categories: affordability (13th), food (4th), team quality (9th), tradition (14th), atmosphere (7th), fan IQ (7th), hospitality (30th), promotions (10th), traffic (10th) and neighborhood (20th). Philadelphia continues to have a terrible reputation for its fans, but at least people love the food.
The magazine ranked ballparks in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit and St. Louis in the top five. I question that list. A lot. Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Louis have nice parks, but they're not four of the five ballparks I would send somebody for the ultimate baseball roadtrip. Not even close.
Here's my top five:
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Wrigley Field.
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PNC Park
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AT&T Park
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Fenway Park
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Camden Yards
Wrigley and Fenway are old. They're cramped. Blah, blah, blah. But they're also freakin' sweet. PNC Park is probably the best park in baseball. Too bad they can't move the ballpark to a city with a better team, you know? There's just something cool about watching a game on the bay in San Francisco, which has great food stands in center field. And Camden Yards is still a great place to go. I think the Bank is right underneath those top five. It's just too bad they didn't put the ballpark in the city.
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Been to Wrigly, PNC, Fenway and Camden Yards, but having spent 2 years in Cleveland, I think you are vastly underating that venue. "The Jake" was a great place to watch a game, from a suite or regular seats, great food, terrific sightlines, easy parking and the restaurant in left field is a cool place to watch a game. Plus they had a sellout streak that was incredibly long. Camden Yards is nice, but gets a lot of credit for it's locale (Inner Harbor), as much as the stadium. It certainly started the trend toward the new designs but I think it's time as a major attraction is long gone. IMHO.— jimmymack- Billy Wagner remains one of the biggest horse's patoots in baseball. Keep yappin Billy, the Mets are in trouble already and you will just help things along.— lancastermike
Comment removed.- I question that 30th in hospitality, too, Bryan! And Zo....I know you're among the many who thought they should have put CBP in Center City. But if they had, we would have ranked 30th in traffic!— Norma
- Shea came in 29th...Yankee Stadium 28th and Fenway 27th. Talk about east coast bias...— lutton
- Wait a minute! This was a FAN survey? We voted ourselves 30th in hospitality?! What the......!!!!! Truth must have voted a 100 times!— Norma
- 10th best park is about right. CBP is very generic, and so is the Linc. The ownership's went cheapo and wen't with the safe generic stadiums. Can't blame them.— Leron
- lol-Can't blame them for being cheap. Can't blame them for buying fancy jets and driving the best cars while leaving a generic stadium for you to spend your $100.00 each appearance. What a loser.— Truth
- Ok, back up your argument with some truth...who bought/has the fancy jet? Phillies, Eagle's? C'mon big boy, just some facts & names. Lot's of people drive nice cars, so that makes absolutely no sense.— jimmymack
- WOOO RYAN HOWARDD !! GO PHILLS ! WHO CARES WHERE THE PARK IS, IM JSUT GLAD ITS WITHIN A 10 MIN WALK FROM ME!— Will.i.Am
- WOOO RYAN HOWARDD !! GO PHILLS ! WHO CARES WHERE THE PARK IS, IM JSUT GLAD ITS WITHIN A 10 MIN WALK FROM ME!— Will.i.Am
- Just read the comments from Wagner. What an a-hole! I'm certainly not defending Perez, but 5 of those runs were unearned. If Billy the Bully is going to rant at someone, maybe it should be the fielders who kept committing errors. Somebody in the Mets organization neds to muffle him. Can you imagine if he ever decided to mangage a team after retirement? He'd make Lou Pinella look like Mickey Mouse.— Norma
- 14th in tradition?????? Wait a minute, aren't we the oldest team in the same city in the universe? And what about the Phanatic? Like most surveys... a crock.— Moi
- So truth, did you hear about Phils Hughes and his supposed night vision problem,then the next day is was his oblique muscle that was strained, but then later on that day or the next day he all of a sudden has a cracked rib. Now what kind of toxic waste would you be spewing out in this blog if that was the Philles......?— Clinton, NJ
- Why has it taken soooo long to get another lefty in the bullpen?????— Clinton, NJ
