Ryan Howard has been blowing up baseballs in a Phillies uniform since 2004 and last night he reached another milestone, he hit his 250th home run in his 855th career game. I'm not sure if you've been watching Sportscenter today, but that makes him the fastest to ever reach that mark.
Howard, since coming up to the big club has proved that being mainly a home run hitter isn't a bad thing, especially when you hit them at the right time. It's something that he's been doing his entire Phillies career and once again Ryan is on pace to light up another September.
In last night's game, Howard went three for five with six RBI and his 28th home run of the season in a 10-6 victory over the Marlins and since the turn of September he's been his usual self again.Howard is hitting .324 with three doubles, four home runs and 10 RBIs in nine games in September, after struggling mightily when he came off the DL last month.
In ten games since he returned to the lineup, Howard had only one home run and was batting .125 in 42 plate appearances.
Howard told Phillies.com that even though the calendar has hit September, he doesn't feel any differently.
"It feels good to be able to go out and contribute," Howard said. "That's all I'm trying to do. September? I guess it just happens to be September. You know you're coming down the stretch and you know that every game counts, so I'm just trying to do my part."
Well it just so happens that Howard seems to dominate the month of September and after last night's home run according to ESPN.com, Howard now has 54 September home runs since 2005 which is the most in baseball.
Howard has come up huge since 2004 in the month of Spetember, he's hitting .314 with 141 RBI and his OPS is well over 1.000.
Howard already has four home runs in September after having six the entire month last season. He hit 11 in Sept and Oct. in 2008 and 11 in 2007 as well.
But Howard is more than just a September monster, he's a beast period. Coming into this season, he had 33 more home runs than any other player since 2006 and 81 more RBI, and 2006 was the year he just so happened to win the Home Run Derby.Howard in his career is averaging 47 home runs and 139 RBI per season which puts him all by himself in terms of players that can compare to him currently.
Of active players, only a couple have numbers that are close to what Howard is averaging and that's Prince Fielder (38 HR and 105 RBI), Justin Morneau (31 HR and 116 RBI) and Albert Pujols (42 HR and 128 RBI)
The numbers are really eye popping when you look at his career numbers and see that since he officially broke into the lineup in 2005, he's had no fewer than 22 HRs in a season and that was in 2005 when he really only played in the second half after being called up, and then he went on to win rookie of the year.
In 2006, Howard won his first MVP award and in the three years following his accomplishment, he has placed in the top five in voting all three years.
When you consider his numbers since he's been the regular first baseman for the Phillies in four seasons from 2006-2009 he's averaging 49 HRs and 143 RBI a season, now that's power.
So because of the time Howard missed this season, he's on pace for career low totals since his first real year in 2005 and considering he has 28 HRs and 95 RBI, he'll still be getting over the 30+ HR mark and will definitely break 100+ RBI. So a down year for Ryan Howard equals outstanding years for almost any other player in baseball, and he's only 30 years old which in baseball time means he still has a lot left to do, I mean look at Jim Thome.
Photos Courtesy the Associated Press
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