Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 10, 2008
Howard Takes the Lead

Ryan Howard hit his 26th home run of the season to give the Phillies a 2-0 first inning lead over the Cardinals. The shot allows Howard to pass his teammate Chase Utley for the major league lead in home runs. After hitting five in June, Howard has six dingers in ten July games.

Update: Howard goes deep again in the 6th. If he keeps this up, he won't want to stop for the all star break. The Phillies lead the Cardinals 4-1 in the sixth.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:45 PM | Sluggers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

re: ryan howard

you can hold him but you can't stop him

ryan howard, even with dave kingmanish numbers of .234 BA/.334 OBA/.510 SA and an OPS in the mid 800s, has now taken over the NL lead in homers and RBIs as we approach the all star game with 27 dingers and 83 rbis. He's clearly on pace for 45-50 homers and 140-160 rbis, but also for 100 walks and 200 strikeouts.

also, if trends hold up, the first NL player in 60 years to be leading the league in homers and rbis not to be invited to the all star game.

pat burrell his teammate also didn't get invited, even though burrell is arguably having a better offensive year than Utley or Howard.

also, as ESPN and others report, howard's pace of hitting homers since he's arrived in the NL, faster than all but two other active players.

at least we know Howard is good at doing one thing, and doing it well. Hitting the long ball is one skill that will keep you in the big leagues a long, long time.

--art kyriazis, philly

Posted by: art kyriazis at July 11, 2008 12:33 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?