With his blast last night in Florida, Ryan Howard became the fastest player in MLB history to reach 200 HR's (suck it, Ralph Kiner). Just another record in the already illustrious career of the Phils first basemen. Howard has had an incredible career in the short time he's been with the Phillies, racking up a ROY, MVP and a World Series Ring since joining the club full time in 2004. We as Phillies fans should feel lucky to have a player of Howard's caliber on the team. The guy is a once in a lifetime kind of talent, and without him last year never would have happened. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Ryan Howard is the man, plain and simple, he is the best. So with that said, here is Dirty Wudders' list of Ryan Howard's Top 5 Moments as a Phillie, feel free to disagree in the comments:
5. September 11, 2004: The first of many…Howard hits his first Major League home run off Doc’s boy, Bartolome Fortunato, driving in his first RBI and scoring his first run in an 11–9 win over the New York Mets. Who could have guessed what was to come? I mean, except for me. I knew. No one else did though.
4. June 20, 2006: Howard has 7 RBI’s, 2 HR’s and a triple in a game against the Yankees. The Phils ended up losing the game 9-7, but Howard’s performance was incredible. Trivia Question: Ryan Howard was the first Phillie to have 7 RBI’s in one game since June 2, 2002. Who was the last player?
3. September 3, 2006: Howard goes 4-4 and blasts 3 HR’s against the Braves, leading the Phils to an 8-7 victory. This was a special day not only for the 3 HR’s, but because the big man became the first Phillie in history to hit 50 HR”s in one season. He finished the game with his HR total at 52. The dude had an incredible year he had in ‘06.
2. ROY: Howard wins 2005 Rookie of the year with 68% of the vote, edging out Willie Taveras and Jeff Francoeur for the honor. His numbers were pretty sick, especially considering he only played in 88 games: .288 AVG, 22 HR, 63 RBI, .924 OPS. Thank god for Jim Thome’s elbow.
1. MVP: Howard wins 2006 MVP Award, garnering 87% of the votes that year. His stats were unreal in ’06: .313 AVG, 58 HR, 149 RBI, 1.084 OPS. Ridiculous.
What did I miss? Do you agree/disagree with my choices? Let's hear it.
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I know that this isn't top 5 in his career, but it was pretty cool when he won the Home Run Derby in Pittsburgh. When he hit the "Hit it Here" sign that was pretty sweet. I think a certain fan won like free flights fo a lifetime or something
ReplyDeleteOr how about when he hit that bomb against the Nats in 2007 to secure their first division title since 1993.
ReplyDeleteRE: Trivia. Lieberthal?
ReplyDeleteBartolome Fortunato is my boy...