Phillies nuggets: Howard's 2009 NLCS dominance forgotten

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By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

Yesterday, Sports Talk Philly staffers debated the top moments of Ryan Howard's career with the Philadelphia Phillies, as what is likely to be his final season with the club winds down. While some of the many tremendous moments of Howard's career were revisited, one impactful moment of Howard's career seems to be consistently forgotten: his 2009 NLCS dominance. 

After batting .375 in the the Phillies four game NLDS win over the Colorado Rockies, including bringing the Phillies back in the ninth inning of Game 4 when his teammates "got him to the plate," Howard used his 15 at-bats in the 2009 NLCS to help the Phillies reach their second consecutive World Series. In five games in the series, Howard batted .333 with five hits, six walks, five runs scored, two home runs, and eight RBIs.

Howard's signature moment in the series came in Game 3 of the series, when a first inning triple plated two, leading the Phillies to a four-run first inning and an 11-0 victory that allowed them to seize control of the series. 

(Howard's Triple can be seen at the 21:21 mark.)

As a 2009 article from ESPN reminds us, dating back to the NLDS, Howard had an RBI in eight consecutive National League playoff games, which tied Lou Gehrig's record for most consecutive playoff games with a run batted in. 

Of course, Howard's strong playoff run was overshadowed when he, much like everyone on the team not named Chase Utley or Cliff Lee, struggled in the World Series. In six games against the eventual World Champion New York Yankees, Howard batted just .174, hit only one home run and struck out 13 times. Though Howard disappointed in the World Series, that can't overshadow how dominant he was in the 2009 playoffs, because the Phillies may not have won a second consecutive National League pennant had it not been for Howard. 

The nuggets

• Game 3 of the 2009 NLDS is an underrated game in the Phillies five-year run of National League dominance. Howard had the previously mentioned two-run triple, while Jayson Werth smashed a two-run home run one at-bat later. Cliff Lee, who was dominant throughout the entire 2009 playoff run, tossed eight innings of shutout ball while scattering just three hits and striking out 10. 
• Ryan Howard's career playoff batting average is .259. Jimmy Rollins has (had?) a career playoff batting average of .246 and Chase Utley, who will play in the playoffs again this year, has an average of .263. Utley has the most playoff home runs of the three, but Howard's 33 RBIs tops the trio. 
• I would be pretty surprised if A.J. Ellis isn't back with the Phillies next year. I continue to think the possibility of having three catchers on the Opening Day roster exists. 
• Odubel Herrera has slashed .324/.398/.527 in September. He's gotten his average back up to .288 on the season and most of his defensive metrics have been better in the second half of the year. 
• Maikel Franco's two nicest home runs this season have been opposite field home runs. In the opening series of the season, he slugged his first home run of the year against the Cincinnati Reds into the right-center field stands. Last week, he temporarily gave the Phillies a lead with a monster home run to right field against the New York Mets. Much like peak Ryan Howard, he seems to be a much better all-around hitter when he's hitting the ball to all fields.