I made a negative comment about Ryan Howard in a previous post, and I want to clarify. I am a huge Ryan Howard fan. I have been since the beginning, and by beginning I mean since his debut in 2004. I have a Howard Phillies shirt, I've taught my son Howard's name, and I always have the urge for Subway.
My negative statement was about how he let that last pitch in the NLCS go by, and lost the game against Brian "Beardo" Wilson. I was very saddened by this and was actually extra upset. I had tickets to game 7 and was going with my father-in-law who had never been to a playoff game before. It probably would be the greatest sporting event I'd have ever been to, and because Howard couldn't swing at a pitch too close to take, I'm sitting here complaining about it in a blog 5 months later. You can see where I'd be a little ticked. It felt like I had been stood up, and believe me I know what that feels like.
This event hasn't turned me off. He's still my favorite player and I will support him 100%. A lot of people were unhappy with his last contract thinking it was too much. To one extent I have no argument with this, because guys with contracts like that hit the ball in the NLCS. There was part of me hoping Howard would've come out after that game and said, "You know what guys. I don't deserve this huge contract. I'm going to give some of my money back so the team can resign Werth." Wouldn't that have been a sweet PR move?
On the other hand, I don't really have that many issues with the contract. In my opinion, he is a major factor in the Phillies becoming what they are. Yes, people are coming to see the Phils because they are winning, but they also want to see the characters involved. Howard was giving us things to get excited about before we won the Series: Rookie of the Year, Home Run Derby Champ, and MVP.
I've also been impressed by his work ethic, because he seems to improve every year. A big knock on him was his fielding. Last year, he came in a little more svelte (I have never typed that word), and nimble. His fielding was very much improved. He wasn't going to be winning any gold gloves, but he was going to be on less Not Top Plays on Sportscenter. His home runs were down last year and I think his willingness to improve was part of the problem.
Another issue people had with him, was that he struck out too much. I think he worked on his batting so much that he was hitting for average instead of looking to put it out. How dare he? I could be wrong on this, because he actually was belting them out at a fairly good pace before his injury knocked him out for a while and seemed to really throw him off.
My hope is that last pitch stuck with him as it did with me this whole offseason. I hope it inspired and pushed him. I hope he reenacted every cheesy training montage scene from Rocky that he could possibly remember. If he did, this will be a monster year for him. I'd like for him to do so well, that everyone is talking about him and not the pitchers. I'd also like for him to call me to hang out some time. We could go to Subway or something.
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