Utley’s injury leaves Howard struggling to hit over .500
Through the Phillies first six games of the season, the absence of Chase Utley could be felt up and down the lineup, but no more so than with Ryan Howard, who continues to struggle to keep his batting average above .500.
Before the season began, several baseball experts predicted that the Phillies offense would struggle without their All-Star second baseman, but as Howard said Thursday, no one could have predicted it would be this bad.
“It’s getting hard to get up in the morning,” said an emotional Howard, who saw his average dip to .480 after a 1-for-4 showing against the Mets on Thursday. “I really don’t know what’s going on right now. You try to change your approach at the plate and watch video, but nothing works and your average stays around .500. It’s, like, really frustrating.”
Controversy bound to hover over Moyer's pursuit of all-time home run record
Jamie Moyer lost another bid for his 250th career win in Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Marlins, but inched closer to becoming baseball’s all-time home run [given up] leader.
The fourth-inning jack by Wes Helms gave Moyer 477 for his career, 28 behind Phillies great Robin Roberts’ 505 for the all-time record, which could fall later this season.
“If Moyer gets to 506, baseball purists may put an asterisk by his name in the record books,” said ESPN’s Buster Olney. “There’s no doubt that his totals were inflated by steroid use, even if Moyer wasn’t the one actually taking them.”
Moyer has surrendered a slew of home runs to outed and suspected steroid users over the years including Manny Ramirez (10), Alex Rodriguez (6), Barry Bonds (5), Rafael Palmeiro (5), Brady Anderson (5), Juan Gonzalez (4) and Lenny Dykstra (1).
Meanwhile, Roberts was lit up by a far more respectable bunch, including Duke Snider (19), Hank Aaron (9), Jackie Robinson (9) and the ever-dangerous Wally Moon (9).
“I can’t help that every record nowadays has steroids attached to it,” said Moyer. “Did a lot of my home runs come from the bats of known steroid users? Yes. Could I allow 500 home runs without them? Probably.”
