R-How Take a Bow: Ryan Howard Poised For Monstrous Second Half

With the start of the second, smaller half of the MLB season, I believe the time has come to preemptively celebrate the torrid streak that Ryan Howard will inevitably go on. 

Howard has been famous for his Atlas-like performances in the latter half of seasons, placing the Phillies on his back and carrying them into the playoffs. 

There's been a lot of hullabaloo over Halladay. Toronto has been playing hard to get and it isn't clear whether a deal will materialize, but the Phils don't have to worry because Howard is already hotter than Kirk Herbstreit's house.

He has singlehandedly won two of the past three games while driving in seven runs over the same duration. 

This is no surprise, as his production in the second half of every season he has played in feature steady increases in Avg., OBP, and Slugging. 

Of course, his major stat is home runs, and he has proved he is one of the best home run hitters in the league, being the fastest to reach both 100 home runs and 200 in a career.

Yes, his home runs come with a lot of strike outs and he has forgotten how to hit lefties, but the Phillies will take his faults because his moon shots are absolutely demoralizing to opposing teams. Out of his 203 career home runs, 76 were to go ahead and 24 tied the game.

The only one close to his percentages of important home runs is Albert Pujols, and Howard consistently hits more home runs per season, and thus has more high impact home runs per year than Albert Pujols. (This is also probably the only sabermetric stat that Pujols loses to someone in)

It's fun to root for Ryan Howard because he is the hero with character flaws unlike Albert Pujols, who does nothing to dissuade the theory that he is a Terminator sent from the future to eliminate any hope for mankind.

Howard does have holes in his game, but he has worked to try and eliminate them. He has been known for his terrible fielding, however he has improved this season, minimizing errors and currently having one the highest fielding percentage in his career.

He has also become trimmer having gotten rid of his baby fat; the buffer that has kept any steroid allegations from touching him in his career. 

He's also a funny guy, he told TIME magazine in an interview earlier this season that Oliver Perez was the pitcher he feared most in the MLB. 

With the Mets' self destruction occuring earlier this year than usual, the Phils have no competition and should stroll easily into the playoffs. 

Of course, all that matters is making that deep run into the playoffs and winning the World Series.

Yes, the Phils acquiring Halladay would be like Hanukah in July, but I believe in Ryan Howard and I think he is packing the equipment necessary for playoff success.