after striking out during the eighth inning
of Game 4 of the National League Championship
baseball series Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, in Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Howard sits on the bench before he hits and visualizes what he wants to do at the plate. Then he goes out and drives the ball all over the field - or over the fence.
The big man with the powerful swing is having an incredible post-season for the Philadelphia Phillies, collecting at least one RBI in eight straight playoff games to tie the major league record first set by Lou Gehrig more than seven decades ago.
Howard entered Wednesday's Game 5 of the NL championship series against Los Angeles sporting a .379 post-season average, with two homers and 14 RBIs.
"Ryan has been swinging real good," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "He's seeing the ball good. He looks real relaxed at the plate, and from a mechanics standpoint, he's loading up good and he's staying on the ball. When he's staying on the ball, he makes more consistent contact."
Throughout the post-season, television cameras have caught Howard in a trance-like state before his at-bats. He sits in the dugout with his head down, eyes closed, hands resting on the knob of his bat.
Whatever is going through the slugger's mind, it's working.
"I think that's his way of focusing and basically getting ready," Manuel said. "I think that he's thinking about his at-bat and things that he has going for him and how he wants to feel and everything when he gets up there.
"Visualization is part of hitting. You can do it once you walk up to the plate and you can step out and look around, things like that, and kind of gather your thoughts, or you can sit in the dugout there, too, and kind of visualize things and really concentrate on what you want to do. It depends on the person and how he feels."
Howard has delivered several clutch hits already in the post-season. None were bigger than his two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning of Philadelphia's 5-4 comeback win in the clinching game of the division series against Colorado.
Trailing 4-2, the Phillies rallied off Huston Street. Howard was the fifth batter due up that inning. The all-star first baseman had a simple request for his teammates in the dugout: "Just get me to the plate, boys."
Chase Utley drew a walk to keep the game going, and Howard's liner drove in the tying runs. He scored on Jayson Werth's RBI single, and the Phillies advanced to the NLCS.
"That hit by Howard was the biggest and most impressive I've seen in my career," said pitcher Cliff Lee, who has been equally impressive on the mound for the Phillies.
Howard kept up his torrid hitting against the Dodgers. He had a two-run double in the series opener and drove in Philadelphia's only run with a solo homer in Game 2. In the next two games, Howard got key hits in the first inning to give the Phillies early leads. There was a two-run triple in Game 3 and a two-run homer in Game 4.
A slimmed-down Howard - he dropped 40 pounds last off-season - showed off his new speed, hustling around the bases for that triple and sliding headfirst into third - one of his two dives in the game.
The 2006 NL MVP finished the regular season with a .279 average and 45 homers, and his 141 RBIs tied Milwaukee's Prince Fielder for most in the majors. He became the fourth player to have four straight seasons with 45 homers and 130 RBIs, joining Babe Ruth (seven), Ken Griffey Jr. (four) and Sammy Sosa (four).
Maybe the Dodgers will walk Howard or at least try to pitch around him. They intentionally walked Albert Pujols three times in their sweep of St. Louis in the division series. But Howard hasn't received one intentional pass, though he's walked four times.
"No, we didn't come into the series saying we're going to walk Howard every chance we get," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "We're certainly not going to pitch to him with a base open and stuff like that. But he's got a pretty good supporting cast around him, too. There's no easy touch in that lineup."
Werth has hit fifth behind Howard in the playoffs. He had 36 homers in the regular season and has three more in the post-season. The Phillies have five all-stars in their lineup batting two through six, and former NL MVP Jimmy Rollins is the leadoff hitter.
"When you've got guys like that in this lineup, it makes things a lot easier," Howard said. "For me, just going up there right now, just trying to be as disciplined as I can and just be as relaxed as I can and just trying to work good ABs and get good pitches to hit."
