Can Ryan Howard Carry The Phillies?

[seanbrock 1,684]

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The man who Ryan Howard put out of a job in Philadelphia six years ago can relate to the pressure of being a team's power hitter.

 

"I think the one thing you really learn to appreciate is when you have really good hitters around you, like [Chase] Utley and [Jayson] Werth," Jim Thome said. "That's the one thing I can say through my career. Having guys around you that are good players, they make you better, and you're pushing them to be better."

 

 

It was an interesting assessment from the slugger now in the twilight of his career with the Minnesota Twins, because we all know that for the last half decade Howard has been baseball's quintessential power hitter - with some sensational complementary parts around him.

 

Despite only briefly being teammates with Howard, Thome has admired the Phillies cleanup hitter from afar.

 

"I love how every year he gets better and better," Thome said. "He's a middle-of-the-order guy, and he's a guy that every team's scouting report says, 'Don't let him beat you.' Even though that's the case, he continues to do well, and he continues to be patient. That's the sign of a superstar player."

 

The superstar first baseman, however, is going to have his patience tested more than ever in 2011 because the players Thome mentioned - Utley and Werth - will not be hitting in front of and behind him. When the regular season opens Thursday, Utley will still be rehabilitating his right knee, and Werth will be preparing for his first game in a Washington Nationals uniform.

 

Also, Howard's first at-bat in the Phillies' season opener Friday against Houston at Citizens Bank Park will be his first official plate appearance since he looked at a called third strike against San Francisco closer Brian Wilson in October, triggering a National League pennant celebration by the Giants.

 

Inside the home clubhouse afterward, Howard was visibly disappointed by the Phillies' failure to reach a third straight World Series.

 

"I guess when you make the last out, you probably would be disappointed for a little while," Howard said, recalling that failure. "It took me a little while to let it go. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. Once the season was over, it stuck with me a little bit, but I tried to focus on this season."

 

Thome, in his final years with Cleveland before signing with the Phillies as a free agent in 2003, had to learn how to live without the protection provided by Manny Ramirez.

 

"Patience," Thome said. "You have to learn to be patient. You have to play your game. As a player, you can't get wrapped up with who's in the lineup and who's not in the lineup."

 

Howard said he does not expect to be pitched much differently with or without Utley and Werth in the lineup, and hitting instructor Greg Gross said he has been impressed with the patience his cleanup hitter has shown in spring training.

 

"He has laid off some off-speed stuff out of the strike zone that he might have chased in the past," Gross said. "Hopefully that will continue into the season."

 

Thome said sometimes you just have to take the walk and trust in your teammates to hit behind you.

 

"He has made the adjustments to be as good as he is, and I'm sure he will continue to do that as he goes through this little process he's going through," Thome said. "You have to kind of block everything out and just go out and play."

 

The Phillies were fortunate when Thome went down with an elbow injury in the middle of the 2005 season and Howard showed up immediately and started hitting home runs and driving in runs with more proficiency than anyone in the game.

 

Thome, with 589 home runs and 1,624 RBIs, will be headed to the Hall of Fame after his career is over. But his ability to hit home runs and drive in runs early in his career does not even come close to Howard's.

 

Through 875 career games, Howard has 253 homers and 748 RBIs. That's 67 more home runs and 200 more RBIs than Thome had after the same number of games.

 

The question is: Will that continue this season without the two guys who sandwiched the slugger in the lineup the previous two seasons?

 

Thome is confident it will.

 

"You have to focus on your game, and he will do that," Thome said. "He's that good."

 

I think it's a good question. His hot streaks in September have done a lot to win division titles for the Phillies before. I think you can definitely argue that he's carried the team at times, but if Utley is done for the Year and now that Werth is in DC it does remain to be seen how Howard will respond. imo it's a good sign that Thome has so much faith in him, but Ryan definitely needs to be the guy with how much the Phils are paying him.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

He has shown that he has the potential to carry the team. He basically single-handedly beat the Dodgers in the '09 NLCS. He's just too streaky to be the guy who carries us all the time.

[videofreak8 5]

Im not sure If Howard can, but Im dang sure their pitching can, Halladay+Lee+Oswalt+Hamels= World Series

Edited April 11, 2011 by Hillis=Bulldozer

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Right now nobody needs to carry anybody because everybody's hitting and our speedy guys are running.