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October 1, 2011, 9:12 pm
Ryan Howard swung at ball four. Kyle Lohse was struggling and there were two runners on base and Howard poked his bat out at a pitch that was down and away.
Howard fouled that ball off, depositing it into the seats behind the Cardinals dugout. He did not advance to first base. He did not load the bases. It was the sixth inning and the reaction to that swing wasn?t overly positive at the time, not on Twitter and not in the press box and maybe not on couches across the area, either.
Howard did, however, keep the at-bat going. Did he ever.
On the eighth pitch of that fateful plate appearance, and with a single swing, Howard accomplished two things he didn?t do during the entire 2010 postseason: He hit a homer and he drove in a run ? drove in three, actually. That home run ? which may or may not have landed yet ? put the Phils ahead and sparked a five-run inning that pushed the Fightin?s to a crazy 11-6 win (see story) over the Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.
?I don?t want to swell his head too much, but that was huge,? said Roy Halladay, who gave up a big home run of his own, though his mistake came in the first inning and was far less crippling than the one Howard hit off Lohse. ?One swing of the bat and we were up.?
If you?re one of those people who absolutely refuse to give Howard the credit he deserves ? looking at you, WAR proponents ? it should be noted that 19 of Howard?s 34 home runs this year have either tied a game or given the Phillies the lead. None too shabby, that. ?
?I felt like Ryan Howard?s at-bats were something similar to when he?s hitting the ball real good,? Charlie Manuel said. ?He stayed on the fastball good, and he definitely made contact with the breaking ball. He kind of hit a high breaking ball for a home run?he played a big role in us winning.?
Lohse was pitching relatively well until that point. He had a fledging no-hitter and shutout ended in the fourth inning, but otherwise the Phillies were having trouble getting to him. Howard changed all that. I wonder whether Lohse starts screaming when Howard comes to the plate or when he sees him in those Subway commercials on television. For his career, Howard is 9 for 17 against Lohse with three long balls. If Howard ever appears in the All-Star Game Home Run Derby again, he ought to ask Lohse to pitch to him. Lohse wouldn?t even have to soft toss it. He could just do his usual thing.
As the regular season came to a close, Howard spent a good portion of his time convalescing on the bench. The bursitis in his left heel and ankle had some people worried. Apparently the cure for that sort of thing is a pressure situation and a rendezvous with Lohse.
?I knew [Lohse] was going to be very careful in that situation,? Howard said. ?With Shane [Victorino] coming up behind me, he didn?t want to make a mistake. I just battled off a couple of really good pitcher?s pitches and was able to get one where he kind of just left it hanging, and I made good connection. [Lohse] was pitching very well, mixing it up. But we knew it was just a matter of time.?
Howard was the hero Saturday night, but it has not always been easy for him in Philadelphia. He might be the best first baseman in the history of the franchise, but that has hardly insulated him from the endless debate about his talents and ability to perform when it matters most. After bloating his bank account with a contract extension worth $125 million, the already-intense spotlight grew hotter still. He was criticized for his performance in last year?s playoffs, for not doing what he was supposed to do ? drive in runs and win ball games. It certainly didn?t help matters when the postseason ended prematurely against the Giants, screeching to an anticlimactic dead stop with the bat still resting on Howard?s left shoulder.
?You know what, coming into this year I knew people were kind of going to say whatever,? Howard admitted. ?But I left last year in the past. This is a completely new year. You can?t bring what happened last year into this year.?
Even so, radio hosts and angry fans moaned about that for months, unable to forgive or shake the image of Howard stuck in neutral while such an important pitch whizzed past. Maybe last night?s performance won?t erase that nightmare entirely ? it was etched into too many memories with the indelible ink reserved for grand postseason failures ? but it was a start. A good one.
E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com
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