{"id":78232,"date":"2016-05-31T16:29:22","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T16:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=78232"},"modified":"2023-04-14T19:06:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T19:06:05","slug":"sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  The Ryan Howard Saga"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have some very fond memories of <a href=\"http:\/\/philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com\/index.jsp?c_id=phi\">Philadelphia Phillies<\/a>\u2019 First Baseman <a href=\"http:\/\/m.phillies.mlb.com\/player\/429667\/ryan-howard\">Ryan Howard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I had the good fortune of seeing Ryan play when he was a hot prospect with the <a href=\"http:\/\/m.phillies.mlb.com\/player\/429667\/ryan-howard\">Reading Fightin\u2019 Phillies<\/a> (then called the \u201cR-Phillies\u201d), the long-time Double-A affiliate for its parent club.\u00a0 While I was a big <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/player\/stats\/_\/id\/2604\/jim-thome\">Jim Thome<\/a> fan at the time, I could tell the first time I saw Howard that he was going to be a player for the ages (it wasn\u2019t hard\u2014he hit two monstrous home runs that day).<\/p>\n<p>When the time came to move Thome, there wasn\u2019t any doubt in my mind that it was the right move.\u00a0 I had seen Howard carrying teams with his bat and be a major force in a lineup that was already belted with legendary names like <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/4258\/jimmy-rollins\">Jimmy Rollins<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/5383\/chase-utley\">Chase Utley<\/a> and company, and his power bat (and at that time, a productive .300 hitter) would be the perfect fit for the middle of that order.\u00a0 The Phillies would go on and win a club-record five consecutive NL East Division titles and put together the greatest, successful run in the 100-plus year history of the franchise.<\/p>\n<p>That time when Howard was just coming up through the organization is the first thing that comes to mind when people bring up the issue becoming the biggest elephant in the entire Delaware Valley region right now\u2026what to do with this aging superstar?<\/p>\n<p>I have to admit\u2026I have been cringing at some of the comments that people have been bringing up to me recently regarding Howard:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>He can\u2019t hit his weight<\/li>\n<li>His strikeout total might be higher than his batting average<\/li>\n<li>Two Phillies pitchers have higher batting averages than Howard<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(All of these are either true or could be a reality!)<\/p>\n<p>This whole season has not gone the way I had expected\u2026as I had hoped.\u00a0 While the Phillies win total heading into June is impressive, this team is still not going to win anything in October.\u00a0 Ideally, the young prospects would play well and show that the future is bright, and guys like Charlie Morton (lost for the year because of injury) would pitch well enough to force a contending team to overpay for his services enabling the Phillies to pick up a few more pieces to help them for 2017 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>And\u2026for purely selfish reasons, the \u201cBig Piece\u201d would pair with Darin Ruf for a presentable tandem in the heart of the batting order.\u00a0 Not a return to glory.\u00a0 Not a cry for a push for Howard to play every day.\u00a0 Just hit well enough (and field decently enough) to not be embarrassed.<\/p>\n<p>When the cries for Howard to be benched\/traded\/released started, my defense was that it was a rebuilding year and Howard wasn\u2019t blocking the way for anyone currently pushing him for the first base job (especially with a mediocre spring training and even weaker early season performance by Ruf).<\/p>\n<p>But the team\u2019s overall success, mixed with its offensive struggles and Tommy Joseph\u2019s hot Triple-A start, has exacerbated the Howard issue.\u00a0 Howard\u2019s struggles have glaringly revealed him as a massive liability on a team that might just actually have a shot at the final wild card berth.<\/p>\n<p>This was not the way it was suppose to be\u2026and it\u2019s not fair.\u00a0 For Howard, for Phillies followers, or for a life-long baseball fan who is becoming more and more removed from America\u2019s Pastime due to its continuing lack of tradition, passion and interesting story lines.<\/p>\n<p>Considering\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I have to go to a Double-A game to see a manager have a genuine argument with an umpire\u2014something replaced at the Major League level with six minutes of standing around waiting for replays, only to have a 70% chance of getting the call correct in the first place.<\/li>\n<li>I have to look at <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/3602\/bartolo-colon\">Bartolo Colon<\/a> alerting the opposing team\u2019s catcher to throw strikes because his back hurts too much to swing the bat or run the bases.<\/li>\n<li>I have to dismiss <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/30951\/bryce-harper\">Bryce Harper<\/a>\u2019s blatant disregard for protocol and tradition by cursing at umpires well after his ejection simply because, without him, the game would be virtually void of personalities and big time stars we can root for.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ryan Howard use to be one of those people.\u00a0 He\u2019d literally carry teams for weeks.\u00a0 He was a great interview with interesting and sometimes abrasive view points.\u00a0 He brought thousands and thousands of fans to the ball park, and gave millions of fans thrill after thrill for many years.\u00a0 He was fun to watch and someone everyone wanted to see hit.\u00a0 And man, in his heyday, could he ever hit.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Howard\u2019s legacy is going to be tainted, at least in the short-term, by his Babe Ruthian-like demise.\u00a0 It gets harder to listen to the truth about the current situation, and remembering the good times becomes more of a strain on the old noggin.<\/p>\n<p>If only there were other things in pro baseball to complain about\u2026<br \/>\n******<br \/>\nOn a more positive note, be sure to check out the District XI high school baseball championships games broadcast live this week on RCN-TV.\u00a0 Check out our broadcast schedule <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcn.com\/atvn\/today\/\">here <\/a>on the RCN-TV website for the latest details on teams and airtimes.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have some very fond memories of Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 First Baseman Ryan Howard. I had the good fortune of seeing Ryan play when he was a hot prospect with the Reading Fightin\u2019 Phillies (then called the \u201cR-Phillies\u201d), the long-time Double-A affiliate for its parent club.\u00a0 While I was a big Jim Thome fan at the&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[354,421,468],"class_list":["post-78232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-mlb","tag-phillies","tag-ryan-howard"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: The Ryan Howard Saga - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: The Ryan Howard Saga - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have some very fond memories of Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 First Baseman Ryan Howard. I had the good fortune of seeing Ryan play when he was a hot prospect with the Reading Fightin\u2019 Phillies (then called the \u201cR-Phillies\u201d), the long-time Double-A affiliate for its parent club.\u00a0 While I was a big Jim Thome fan at the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-31T16:29:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-14T19:06:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: The Ryan Howard Saga\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-31T16:29:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T19:06:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":889,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"MLB\",\"Phillies\",\"Ryan Howard\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/\",\"name\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: The Ryan Howard Saga - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-31T16:29:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T19:06:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-ryan-howard-saga\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. 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