Ryan Howard – Why Hitting the Ball Hard Isn’t Enough

On the subject of hitting, Batting Average (BA) tends to hide a lot of facts. For instance, is a player striking the ball hard and making solid contact. After all, that should be a good sign that you’re doing something right when at the plate. Unless your name is Ryan Howard. Then it means that hard contact is expected and doesn’t matter, because the fielding is positioned in such a way as to make your batting average cry. He hits the ball, I kid you not, directly at the defense. Of course, maybe that means the ball is catching the fielder. Not that it matters, his ass is still out, usually with no well regard for how well said ball was struck.

I’m not saying Ryan Howard is a bad hitter. No-Wait… Yes. Yes, I am! For 20 million dollars a year, I definitely am.

Hindsight – An Introduction to the Phillies

There’s nothing illegal about selling customers a product designed to fail. The [Philadelphia Phillies] do it every year. – Stephen Colbert

The Phillies are horrible. There isn’t any real way around it. They are the losing-est franchise of, not only baseball, but any major league sports team.