Ryan Howard Injury: Slugger’s Achilles Injury May Keep Him on Bench Until 2013

This is not good for Philadelphia Phillies fans. Ryan Howard collapsed to the ground after grounding the ball to second base on the final out of the game.

The Phillies were eliminated from the playoffs after holding a 2-1 lead in the series, and then one of their star players fell to the ground in clear pain.

After the game, Ryan Howard spoke with Nate Mink of MLB.com about what happened. “I was trying to run, and I felt a pop. It felt like the whole thing was on fire. It felt like I was on a flat tire. I tried to get up, but couldn’t go.”

If this injury is as serious as it sounds, Howard may just miss all of 2012 according to NBC Sports.

As if Ryan Howard making the final out of the season for a second straight year wasn’t painful enough for Phillies fans, there’s a chance he could be sidelined when his five-year, $125 million extension kicks in next season.

Not many believed that Ryan Howard was worth the money when he signed this extension, including Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post.

The deal tethers the Phillies to a lumbering first baseman—at a staggering cost of $25 million annually (or a little less than one-fifth of its current payroll)—through his mid-30s, when players almost inevitably suffer significant declines in production. Such deals are how perennial champions turn themselves into bloated underachievers.

Sheinin is absolutely correct, and this injury makes the deal look even worse. Howard’s contract won’t end until he is 36 years old, and he is going to make $25 million sitting on the bench next year if this injury is as serious as initially believed.

Howard only hit .253 this year and has only hit better than .300 once in his career. He still had 33 home runs this year, and drove in 116 runs, but the simple fact of the matter is that Howard is not worth $125 million. He is without a doubt a great player, but this injury just reinforces that he is not worth the money.

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Ryan Howard Injury: Achilles Injury Could Be Serious Enough to Affect 2012

Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard‘s season ended last night in the most horrible fashion, suffering an injury on the final play of the team’s do or die Game 5 of the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Phillies lost the game, and may lose their first baseman for a while too.

Howard, who ironically is from St. Louis, could miss some of the 2012 season if the MRI, which he’ll have Saturday, shows serious damage to his Achilles.

After the game Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweeted that Howard fears he might have torn the Achilles tendon.

Howard also explained what happened after the game:

“It felt like my bat came around and hit the back of my Achilles,” Howard told reporters after the game, via CBS Sports. “I tried to run and felt a pop and it felt like the whole thing was on fire. I tried to run, but felt like I was literally on a flat tire. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t go.”

The injury was a cruel ending to a bad night all-around for Howard, who went 0-4 in the game as the Phillies offense scored zero runs against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter.

Howard had just two hits in the five game series, with none of them coming in Games three through five.

Rehabbing from any significant damage to his Achilles could mean that Howard may miss a decent part of the 2012 season. At 31 years of age, Howard isn’t exactly a young kid who could rehab faster than anticipated.

Including his performance in the NLDS against St. Louis, and the fact that he’s not the player he once, Howard will be nearly impossible to trade with the $125 million left on his current contract through the 2016 MLB season.

The Phillies will have no choice but to hope their star slugger can rehab quickly if any damage is found.

Nicholas Goss is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report, follow him on Twitter for the latest sports news and updates.  Follow @NicholasGoss35

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Philadelphia Phillies 2011 MLB Playoffs Collapse: Morning After

The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. No, it wasn’t a dream. Yes, it is a massive disappointment for a Phillies team that won 102 regular season games. Last night, Philadelphia fans went through stages of shock, anger, sadness, more anger and then just utter disappointment.

These Phillies are beginning to look a lot like the Atlanta Braves team that won the NL East from 1995-2005, and advanced to the World Series three times, but only won a single championship. They need to prevent this and make a push to get over the hump, something another Philadelphia team, the Eagles, have not been able to do under Andy Reid either. Good but not good enough just doesn’t cut it, and Philadelphia fans deserve better.

Therefore, trying to put this Phillies team in perspective, here’s just a simple list of their best players. Try to look at this and not think of it as the Phillies team or any team in particular, just look at this list of players: Roy Halladay, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, Cliff Lee, Shane Victorino. 

That’s as good of a group of players as you’re ever going to see on one baseball team. So the question is, now what? Do they try again with the same group of players, or do they emulate the Flyers and overhaul the roster this offseason? 

The answer is obvious. The Phillies need change. They have talent, but something isn’t clicking. Not to make it to the World Series in either of the past two seasons, with the talent they have, is reason enough to make significant changes. More so to the offense than the pitching staff. So, what should they try to do?

The Phillies should let Oswalt go. His best days are behind him, and Vance Worley is a more than capable fourth starter. They also need to go out and get one more arm in the bullpen, other than that, the staff is solid.

 

Offensively, bigger changes should be made. Rollins and Ibanez should be let go via free agency. This may cause some controversy, but Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco should all be moved as well. They are all into their 30’s and don’t seem to have enough left in the tank when it counts for the Phils. 

Here are some possibilities on how to fill the vacancies left behind by those players:

Domonic Brown and John Mayberry can fill in the outfield gaps left behind if they can’t get someone in a trade or sign a free agent. However, Grady Sizemore and Josh Willingham are both good players who may be available.

In the infield, two names stand out over at first base. Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder could potentially both end up on the market. If the Phillies moved Howard for some prospects and took a big run at those two superstars, it would be franchise shattering (for the better). Aramis Ramirez and Michael Cuddyer are two other veterans who could get signed and shake things up for the Phils. 

It’s going to be a long, long winter without baseball in Philadelphia. If some big changes aren’t made, don’t be surprised to hear the boos start during spring training.  

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Philadelphia Phillies: Ranking the 4 Most Blamable Phillies in This Series

The World Series favorites, the Philadelphia Phillies have shockingly been eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the St. Louis Cardinals.

There will be a lot of time to think about what went wrong for the Phillies this series during the offseason.

A number of players deserve the blame for the Phillies’ demise. They had a chance to win the series but instead, their season is over. Here are the four players most responsible for the Phillies’ shocking end.

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Phillies’ Charlie Manuel Still Making Big Mistake

With the series tied heading into a decisive Game 5, people have begun finding their scapegoats. Chances are most of the blame is pointed toward either Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, the lineup, Roy Oswalt, or the bottom of the order. Some of the blame is justified, some of it isn’t. 

The biggest mistake by Charlie Manuel isn’t the lineup. People tend to think there’s some magical lineup that will inherently score a drastic amount of runs better than another, unless you’re doing something crazy like leading off the game with Halladay, Valdez, and Martinez. The fact is, most managers do not optimize their lineups correctly all year and do not adjust properly. As for virtually all of fans’ lineup proposals I’ve seen, they make the same mistakes and the difference between what they think is best and what Manuel thinks is best is most likely only the difference of a single hundredth of a run on average, either way.

But the biggest, simplest mistake in my opinion is that for most of the series, Manuel has not put his best players in the field. Some people have been calling for Valdez or Martinez over Polanco, but that isn’t it. Even injured, Polanco is the better player. What if I told you he’s played an inferior player, both offensively and defensively, three times as much as a better player? 

Sadly, that’s what Manuel has done with his use of Raul Ibanez and John Mayberry. Sticking with a strict platoon, he’s started Ibanez three of the four games played with just Mayberry given the start against left-handed Jaime Garcia. The basic idea of the platoon is very simple. Match the batter up with the opposite-handed pitcher since typically, given equal players, a left-handed batter will do better against a right-handed pitcher and vice-versa. However, some players do not have a very high-split platoon, or are just simply better against a same-handed pitcher than their platoon counterpart. And this is what we have here. 

Here’s a little quiz. Which player would you rather have:

Player A: .256/.307/.440 with Isolated slugging of .184 and weighted on-base average of .322. Strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.27 to 1. 

Player B: .250/.330/.455 with Isolated slugging of .205 and weighted on-base average of .342. Strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.04 to 1. 

 

Player A is Raul Ibanez against right-handed pitchers this season. Player B is John Mayberry against right-handed pitchers this season. This goes against the very essence of having a platoon advantage. When opting for a platoon, your left-handed batter should not bat worse against right-handed pitchers than the right-handed batter you are platooning him for! Not only that, when the manager opts to bring in a left-handed reliever for Ibanez, he’s totally inept(.211/.232/.353). 

Not only is Mayberry the better offensive player no matter what hand the pitcher throws with, but when you tack on the drastic difference in defensive ability, the decision should be a no-brainer. Yet, Charlie Manuel’s loyalty to overpaid veterans has no end. 

 

Follow @byosti

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NLDS: 5 Fixes for the Flustered Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5

A funny thing has happened for the fabulous Phillies on their preordained march to another NLCS. They are knotted up 2-2 with the Cardinals, and haven’t even looked that good. 

The Cardinals were a mile and a half behind the Braves just a few weeks ago.  Now they are a win away from knocking out the Phillies, the star-studded odds-on NL favorite to reach the World Series.  

The Phillies have one game left to reassert themselves. Turn the page for five fixes, some obvious and others maybe not so obvious, that are essential to avoiding an early postseason exit.

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Cardinals vs. Phillies: Philadelphia Phillies’ X-Factor for Game 5

He missed the first two months of the season due to injury. He had a very slow start once he got back into the Phillies lineup in late May. He had an even slower finish to the season in September.

His regular-season numbers are not awe-inspiring, not by a long shot. Indeed, a .259 batting average with 11 home runs and 44 RBI are not exactly what Chase Utley hoped for before the 2011 season began.

But so it’s been for Utley over the past two injury-plagued seasons, a far cry from his 2009 campaign in which he posted a .282 batting average with 31 homers and 93 RBI.

Don’t let all of that fool you, though. Utley is back, and in the postseason he’s looking to help get his Phillies back to the World Series.

Despite Philadelphia’s distinction as the team with the best regular-season record in the big leagues and the fact the Phillies were chosen by the vast majority of baseball experts to be the National League’s representative in the World Series, the club faces elimination Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals in a do-or-die Game 5 of the NLDS.

With all of the analysis going into who or what the difference-maker will be in this decisive contest, sometimes the simplest of stats can give the best answer.

Chase Utley is 7-for-15 lifetime against Cardinals’ Game 5 starter Chris Carpenter. And he’s 6-for-13 in the NLDS thus far, with two doubles and a triple.

While Roy Halladay will certainly have the opportunity to make a huge impact on whether the Phils move on to the league championship series for the fourth consecutive season, keep your eye on Utley because No. 26 may just be the X-factor that saves Philadelphia’s season and keeps the bid for a return to the Fall Classic alive and well.

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Cardinals vs. Phillies: 5 Reasons Philadelphia Will Defeat St. Louis in Game 5

The Philadelphia Phillies lost Game 4 of the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday and now a final, decisive game of the series will be played Friday in Philadelphia.

Both teams face elimination and, in this case, I believe the home team will come out on top and advance to the NLCS.

Here are five reasons why Philly will defeat St. Louis in Game 5 and move one step closer to a World Series title.

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Roy Halladay vs. Chris Carpenter: Breaking Down Key Game 5 Pitching Matchup

When Game 2 of the National League Divisional Series between the Cardinals and Phillies entered the fourth inning, the series was, in the minds of many, nearly over. Heavily favored Philadelphia armed with baseball’s best record and a pitching staff made up of a good chunk of the likely National League Cy Young award voting had already won Game 1 in a rout. 

Now they took a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning at home with Cliff Lee on the mound. Then suddenly momentum began to shift.

St. Louis plated three runs in the fourth, then one more in the sixth to tie the game 4-4. The Cardinals pushed the go-ahead run over the plate in the seventh inning and would hold on to win the game 5-4. It was a big win, and, in spite of the Phillies bouncing back to win a tight game three on Tuesday 3-2, it was the Cardinals that came through in Busch Stadium on Wednesday to even the series and send it back to Philadelphia.

This is one of those situations where home field advantage is not really an advantage at all. All the pressure in on the Phillies on Friday night. Philadelphia was supposed to win this series. In fact, they’re the prohibitive favorites to win the entire World Series.

On Friday night, though, all that matters is winning that one game. The decisive game five. The Phillies will send Cy Young winner and ace Roy Halladay to the mound. He’ll be opposed by the Cardinals own ace, Chris Carpenter.

To say this is a ” big matchup” would be an understatement.

Halladay is the guy that won the Cy Young last year, he’s the guy that pitched a no-hitter in game one of the NLDS last year against a very good Reds offense that featured 2010 National League Most Valuable Player Joey Votto.

Halladay is also a former Blue Jay  prospect and draft pick from the nineties. Chris Carpenter is as well.  Halladay was a first round pick in 1995.  Carpenter was a first round draft pick in 1993. Both were selected by the Blue Jays. Both came up through the Blue Jays’ farm system together, traversing through places like Dunedin, Knoxville and Syracuse.

Both men made it to the big leagues. Carpenter played in Toronto from 1997 until 2002. Halladay didn’t arrive until 1998 but he stayed longer ( until 2009 ) and found more success as well, winning his first Cy Young in 2003, and making seven all-star appearances in a Blue Jay uniform.

Carpenter had to leave Toronto to find success similar to Halladay. He arrived in St. Louis in 2004 and played in the World Series. He won his Cy Young in 2005. 2006 brought another World Series appearance and, this time, a ring to go with it.

Now the two former farm hands find themselves squaring off head-to-head with their respective teams’ post-season lives on the line. Halladay pitched in Game 1 of this series. He had a rocky first inning in which he gave up a three run home run to Lance Berkman, but he righted the ship and cruised all the way through the end of the eighth inning without giving up another run in an eventual 11-6 Philadelphia victory. 

Carpenter took the mound in Game 2. He was ineffective right from the get go and had a forgettable outing in which he went only three innings, gave up five hits and allowed four earned runs. It was a rough night for Carpenter, but the Cardinals would win the game and shift momentum in the series. 

Now that momentum has brought about Friday’s matchup against his old friend Roy Halladay. There’s very little question that both men are exceptional pitchers, there’s also little question that Halladay has had a better resume. Some of that is due to health. Something that Halladay has had a lot of and Carpenter has had only in short bouts. 

They’re both healthy for this matchup though. Halladay will bear down on hitters with both a cut and a sinking fastball. They move in opposite directions and he can seemingly throw them for strikes at will. Think of Halladay like Mariano Rivera but with a second pitch. Then throw in a change-up that also sinks, making it nearly indistinguishable from his sinking fastball when released, as well as an above average curve ball, and you’ve got a pitcher that has no-hit potential every time he takes the mound.

Carpenter will counter with his own arsenal. He doesn’t posses the multi-faceted fastball attack that Halladay does, but he still gets his fastball up to 94 miles per hour. Carpenter does throw an effective slider and his big breaking curveball can be lethal when his location is on. 

There will be a ton of pressure on the Philadelphia offense, which has always been assumed to be the team’s weakness, to produce runs early and get Halladay a lead that they hope he can capitalize on.

The early innings will be key.

LaRussa can’t wait for a shaky Carpenter to find his location, and, if it’s off like it was in Game 2, the Cardinals could find themselves in big trouble, and Carpenter could find himself in the showers.

If the game remains close and low scoring, then the pressure will mount on the Phillies.

The offense could begin to press as the game gets into the later innings, and that plays into the hands of a skilled veteran like Carpenter. Plus, the Cardinals do have arguably baseball’s most lethal offensive force in Albert Pujols in the lineup. Even a pitcher like Halladay isn’t above making a slight mistake, and Pujols doesn’t often miss an opportunity to take advantage.

Give a slight advantage to hometown Philadelphia and Roy Halladay but beware of a close late-inning game and a hitter like Albert Pujols.  

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Roy Halladay and Philadelphia Phillies Need End-of-Lineup Production in Game 5

October is a time for unlikely heroes to emerge. Production seems to stem from the most unpredictable of sources for the teams that advance.

The San Francisco Giants utilized Cody Ross’s hot streak last year en route to becoming the darlings of 2010. Craig Counsell and his .255 lifetime average won NLCS MVP honors for the champion Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001.

The 5’7″ David Eckstein earned World Series MVP honors for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007. Aaron “Bleeping” Boone, who hit only 126 home runs in 12 years as a big leaguer, walked off against the Boston Red Sox in the 2003 ALCS. 

The Phillies know how wonderful production from the end of the lineup and bench can be. 

When facing Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, pinch-hitter Matt Stairs hit a homer that is yet to land to help the Phils steam forward. 

Even Carlos Ruiz of this year’s Phillies was a major contributor to that trophy-winning Phillies team. Ruiz hit a pedestrian .219 in the regular season that year, yet he blasted .375 in the postseason with a home run in the Fall Classic.  

Ruiz and his neighbors at the end of the Phillies’ lineup have not been as dazzling in the first four games of the 2011 National League Division Series.

While Raul Ibanez did provide a two-run HR in Game 1 of the series, he is only 3-for-12 and has struck out five times. He has not provided enough consistency out of the 6 spot in the Phillies’ lineup. 

Placido Polanco is nonexistent in the 7 hole; he is just 2-for-16 (2 singles). Standout utility man Wilson Valdez has yet to see the field in the series. 

As for the No. 8 hitter, Carlos Ruiz, it seems as though the infamous squirrel of Games 3 and 4 has been hiding on top of Ruiz’s head when it is not interrupting Skip Schumaker’s at-bats. Ruiz and his new mohawk haircut are a mere 1-for-14.

In the aggregate, Ibanez, Polanco and Ruiz are a combined 6-for-42 (.143 avg). Given that the pitcher hits ninth in any National League lineup, the numbers imply that the Cardinals have what is almost the equivalent of four free outs at the end of the Phillies’ order.

Luckily, the Phils have had production at the top of the lineup. The usual suspects, Jimmy Rollins (.563 avg), Chase Utley (.462 avg) and Ryan Howard (6 RBI), have carried the team to this point. 

While Howard is hitting only .133, his six RBI account for nearly 30 percent of the Phillies’ runs. Batting average is not the measurable for which the Phillies pay Howard. 

The Phils must get back-of-the-lineup or bench production to beat Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals this Friday. 

Well, maybe it’s not imperative.

Roy Halladay can always throw a postseason no-hitter, but Philly shouldn’t count on such heroics. 

The next Ben Francisco must stand up. If Francisco’s Game 3 home run was the only source of unexpected production come Saturday morning, Charlie Manuel’s team will get an early start to the off-season.

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