Ryan Howard Loses His Cool, Ability to Make Contact

In Tuesday’s 16 inning contest between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros, Ryan Howard joined an elite club that I’m sure he would prefer not be a part of.  Howard managed to go 0-7 with 5 strikeouts- The Platinum Sombrero– before he was ejected for passionately disagreeing with 3rd base umpire Scott Barry over the check swing that ultimately notched his 5th strikeout, in the bottom of the 14th.

As if Howard’s Tuesday night performance wasn’t concerning in itself, in his last two games he is 0-11, with 8 strikeouts.  If anything, perhaps this explains why Howard had such a short fuse by his final at-bat; he knew that he was in the midst of an epic, strikeout streak and probably assumed Barry was out to get him.  Let’s look at each of Howard’s 7 at-bats from Tuesday to better understand how he became the latest to wear the Platinum Sombrero.

– Bottom 1:  K (swinging)

– Bottom 2:  Flyout to center

– Bottom 3:  K (swinging)

– Bottom 6:  K (swinging)

– Bottom 10:  K (swinging)

– Bottom 13:  Foul out to 1st

– Bottom 14:  K (swinging)

And on that final strikeout, this happened:

[hdplay id=5 ]

Who cares! It’s not like his spot up in the order came up again in a crucial situation…