Ryan Howard breaks toe; season over
MIAMI — No one moment can better characterize this cursed Phillies season than Ryan Howard breaking his right big toe while standing in the on-deck circle. He did it Thursday by dropping a lead pipe he uses for practice swings.
Ryan Howard breaks toe; season over
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
MIAMI — No one moment can better characterize this cursed Phillies season than Ryan Howard breaking his right big toe while standing in the on-deck circle. He did it Thursday by dropping a lead pipe he uses for practice swings.
The $125 million slugger's season, the most trying of his career, is over. "It was a learning process," Howard said.
What was the No. 1 lesson?
"Don't get hurt."
The broken toe, believed to be a hairline fracture after Friday X-rays, will not affect his winter training program. He can walk down the aisle at his December wedding without a boot.
It will rob him five final games in 2012, a year made difficult on the final swing of 2011. His ruptured Achilles cost him the first 84 games and sapped him of strength at the plate.
Howard finished with career lows in batting average (.219), on-base percentage (.295) and slugging percentage (.423).
"I know I'm a better hitter than that," Howard said.
"His best years are ahead of him," Charlie Manuel said.
The Phillies sure hope so. They will pay Howard $105 million in the next four seasons.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Katz and Howard platoon at first base... Kratz against lefties and Howard against righties. Can't keep kratz out of the line-up
— fingerskevin- Ryan Howard 2013: .270, 46 Homers, 135 RBI's. book it. He'll be back to 100% for the first time in years.— Ryan
- To the fool who said it doesn't matter if he strikes out 200 in a season....what are you smoking. Striking out 200 times in a season is a major problem. If he also drew a lot of walks it would mitigate things, but Howard doesn't walk very much. I hope he becomes a big time hitter again because I want the Phils to do well, but I'm not optimistic.— p-diddy
- I see no problem with Howard breaking his big toe and thru for the Season. We are out of the playoffs and he will have all the time he needs to heal and be ready for Spring Training. We get a good look at Ruf who seems to field first base far better than Howard and has power in his bat. Philly fans deserve tremendous credit for filling the stadium this year with 3.5 million fans!!— Slower
- Projections are weak. The fact is you have to be in the lineup to be productive.— bill cooke
- Projections are weak. The fact is you have to be in the lineup to be productive.— bill cooke
- Complete incompetent - The Phils management's only hope to avoid 2 more years of this never has-been is that he gets injured to the point where he just goes away. Terrible, Terrible idea to sign a long term contract with an aging, bumbling slugger who can't field or run and is, apparently clumsy and in poor physical shape (how does one bust an achilles tendon when you're one of the highest paid athletes in the world - and dropping weights on foot?).— PhillyDanny
- PhillyDanny, ask Jason Peters how he "busted" (tore) his achillies tendon twice. I think that he's a pretty good athlete.
I struggle to figure out the source of the anger toward Ryan Howard despite his consistent RBI production. Is it the
Mike Schmidt/Del Ennis syndrome or is it the fact that Howard is engaged to a white Eagles cheerleader?
— Mandela - The season was over, before it began, for the Big Piece of Something.— pajamas
- leading the team in RBIs after the All Star break and he wasn't at 100%. Just be healthy next year!— charladan
- Howard is a nice enough person, but he cannot hit a curve ball. And he stopped going the other way against the over-shift. And he guesses what the pitcher is going to throw, making no adjustment. And he's overpaid. . . .and. . . .and. . . .and. . . .— orange rhino
