I think Tamar called at least part of the reason exactly right. We were speculating about whether Ryan Howard would become the "unjuiced home run king" and she said maybe, if they give him anything to hit. And sure enough, it seems like he's getting walked at least once a game. I only get to see the Phillies play once in a blue moon but I'm sure he's seeing a lot of garbage pitches in the other at-bats. It doesn't help that he has no protection behind him. Presumably that will be an offseason priority for the Phils.

The late September news may not be all bad for Phillies fans. The Cardinals appear very interested in wresting the "biggest collapse ever" title away from the 1964 Phillies. On September 20 they led the Astros by 8 1/2 games. They now lead by 1/2 game.

Ryan Howard set the Phillies record for drawing the most intentional walks in a season,and had countless "unintentional intentional walks". In the last 2 months, teams were walking him with runners on first and third!!!

Unfortunately,the Phillies never had a strong #5 hitter behind Ryan Howard. Pat Burrell was a terrible disappointment this year - his avg with RISP was horrible, and he lead the NL in taking called third strikes. Late in the year they got Jeff Conine and put him in the #5 hole - he did a little better, but still left many runners in scoring position.

This team made some strides this year, but they still strike out way too many times, leave too many runners in scoring position,and only seem to hit well when their pitchers are surrendering lots of runs. However, Pat Gillick is the kind of GM who isn't afraid to make changes, so I believe he'll make several changes in the off-season.

Kevin