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November 4, 2009

Phillies’ Howard piling up strikeouts at record pace

PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Howard’s World Series can be summed up like this: swing and miss.

Over and over, Howard has gone down swinging against the New York Yankees. Overall, the Philadelphia Phillies’ slugger has struck out 12 times in the first five games, tying Willie Wilson for most whiffs in a World Series. Wilson did it with Kansas City against the Phillies in 1980.

Howard has been prone to striking out throughout his career. The 2006 NL MVP fanned 199 times in 2007 and 2008. Only Arizona’s Mark Reynolds has K’ed more times in one season.

But Howard usually mixes in a few towering homers and other big hits to go along with all his strikeouts. Not against the Yankees. Howard is batting just .158 (3 for 19) with no homers and one RBI in the Series. Heck, he has more stolen bases (one) than long balls.

“Ryan Howard is more than just a power hitter,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Tuesday. “When he’s really good, he’s a very good polished looking hitter. But at the same time, when he’s struggling, I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s the pitcher and the fact that he’s not following the ball. I can tell you exactly what gets Ryan in trouble. It’s kind of up to him. The pitcher doesn’t have nothing to do with it. Basically he’s just (not) completely following the ball. (When) he’s staying on the ball, following the ball, and when he does that, usually things come around for him.”

Maybe the six-day layoff after the NL championship series affected Howard because he was having an incredible postseason to this point. Howard was named MVP of the NLCS after hitting .333 (5 for 15) with two homers, one double, one triple and eight RBIs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He batted .375 (6 for 16) with three doubles and six RBIs in the division series against Colorado.

Now he’s lost his stroke at the worst time.

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