Remembering Ryan Howard’s ‘Get me to the plate, boys’ as the Phillies return to Coors Field | Extra Innings

It sure looked like the Phillies were going to be swept Wednesday after the bullpen blew a lead for a second straight day. But that’s why you have Bryce Harper. The Phillies flew Wednesday night to Colorado after salvaging their series with the Giants and should enter Coors Field on Friday night with some confidence. The Rockies have won two straight, but they lost their previous eight games. It won’t be a pushover as the Rockies have their top two starters pitching, but the Phillies are feeling good thanks to Harper.

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— Matt Breen (extrainnings@inquirer.com)

Ryan Howard and Huston Street were teammates five years earlier in the Arizona Fall League, baseball’s annual showcase for the game’s premier prospects. So Howard had a good idea one night in October 2009 — the night he famously said, “Get me to the plate, boys” — of what the Rockies closer liked to throw.

“Knew he had some sink on his ball, but I felt confident enough that I could get it,” Howard said. “I just had to bring him up in the zone.”

But first Howard also had to get to the plate. The Phillies, down two runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NL Division Series, had Howard due up fifth.

“That was one of those moments where I was really locked in and I remember pacing up and down the dugout and just had that energy starting to build,” Howard recalled when visiting Citizens Bank Park in 2019. “So I was like, ‘Yo, get me to the plate. Get me to the plate.’ I told all the guys.”

There was little doubt on that Oct. 12 night at Coors Field — where the Phillies return this weekend — that Howard’s career was on a Hall of Fame track. He was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 2005 and MVP in 2006. He already had 222 career homers and had averaged 49.5 homers and 143 RBIs from 2006 to 2009.

Over those four seasons, he led the majors in home runs and RBIs and had the second-best slugging percentage. When Howard paced the dugout at Coors Field, he was one of baseball’s most feared hitters.

Earlier in the season, he became the fastest player ever to reach 200 homers and 650 RBIs. It was a historic start to a career that seemed destined for Cooperstown.

But when Howard appears later this year on the Hall’s ballot for the first time, his case will not be as strong as it felt that night at Coors Field. He hit just 160 home runs over the next seven seasons, and Howard’s career was never the same after he ruptured his Achilles tendon on the Phillies’ final play of the 2011 season. He averaged just 109 games from 2012 to 2016, and his OPS (.719) was 209 points lower than it was from 2004 to 2011.

His career, according to Baseball-Reference, aligns closely with those of Mo Vaughn and Prince Fielder, two power-hitting first basemen who were stars of their era but could not sustain their peaks long enough to be Hall of Famers.

“If you look at Ryan Howard for about four or five years there, Ryan Howard might have been the best hitter in the National League if you go by the number of runs he knocked in and the homers he hit and things like that,” Charlie Manuel said. “He carried a high average, especially for three or four years. I would say his production in the years we had him and the team winning might have something to do with him getting into the Hall of Fame. He probably should be.”

Howard might not make it to Cooperstown, but he will always have those October nights in a Phillies uniform. His 33 postseason RBIs are the most in franchise history, and none is remembered more fondly than the two he drove in off Street.

Greg Dobbs started the ninth inning with a strikeout before Jimmy Rollins singled. Chase Utley drew a one-out walk after Shane Victorino grounded out. The Phillies were down to their final out, but they had listened to Howard’s dugout demands. They got him to the plate.

“It was one of those things that doesn’t happen very often, but I was like ‘This could be a home run situation,’ ” Howard said. “If there was ever a situation where I felt like I was going to hit a home run, it was that one. It just had a little topspin, and luckily I got the double. That was the thing about our team: Everybody wanted to be in that big situation and make something happen.”

The Phillies were one out away from flying home to Philadelphia for a decisive Game 5. Instead, Howard tied it and Jayson Werth won it by driving in Howard with a single.

The Phils popped champagne that night in Denver and toasted another series win. They returned to the NLCS for the second straight season, again beating the Dodgers to reach the World Series. Howard was the MVP of the NLCS after he drove in eight runs and homered twice.

And it was Rollins — who will join Howard later this year as a first-timer on the Hall of Fame ballot — who had the memorable ninth-inning Game 4 double in that series.

Rollins drove in two runs with two outs off Jonathan Broxton for a walk-off win that rocked South Philly. And Howard — who had kept the postseason run churning a week earlier — was on deck.

Later this year, those October moments will play key roles in both players’ Hall of Fame cases.

“That was one of the things that made our team so good. Nobody shied away from being in the big situation,” Howard said. “Everyone wanted to hit. Charlie always used to tell us, ‘You gotta want to hit.’ Like we all wanted to be in that situation. If it wasn’t going to be Jimmy, it was going to be Shane. If it wasn’t going to be Shane, it was going to be Chase or me. Having it be Jimmy in that moment and being up there, time kind of stood still for a little bit. Everything is happening so fast, but it goes in almost like a slow-motion kind of haze.”

Nick Maton played three weeks at double A with a broken finger. He didn’t tell anyone because he just wanted to play. That’s partly why the Phillies rookie, Larry Bowa said, has a mindset like Chase Utley’s.

Spencer Howard picked up four key outs Wednesday after being called up from the minors. Scott Lauber takes a look at how the Phillies will use the pitcher going forward.

The Phillies avoided a sweep at the hands of Gabe Kapler after Bryce Harper showed why he’s the $330 million man, Bob Brookover writes.

Tonight: Vince Velasquez starts series opener vs. Rockies RHP German Marquez, 8:40 p.m.

Tomorrow: Aaron Nola faces right-hander Antonio Senzatela, 8:10 p.m.

Sunday: Chase Anderson faces righty Jon Gray, 3:10 p.m.

Monday: Zack Wheeler starts series opener in St. Louis, 7:45 p.m.

There’s no better place to hit in baseball than Coors Field, and most Phillies regulars have enjoyed playing in Denver’s thin air. Didi Gregorius, who is expected to return to the lineup Friday, has hit .413 (19-for-46) with three homers and a 1.145 OPS in 12 games at Coors Field. J.T. Realmuto has hit .408 (20-for-49) with two homers and a 1.179 OPS in 14 games in Colorado. And Bryce Harper’s numbers are nearly as strong as he’s hit .376 (35-for-93) with four homers and a 1.096 OPS in 22 games. Almost the entire lineup has favorable career numbers at Coors.

In franchise history, Utley has the most RBIs (41 in 33 games) at Coors Field, and Howard’s 10 homers in 36 games are the most. Bobby Abreu’s 1.154 OPS is the highest among Phillies who played at least 15 games at Coors, and Pat Burrell’s .366 average is the highest for a Phillies batter.

Send questions by email or on Twitter @matt_breen.

Question: Who will start at second when Segura is hurt? — Ed D. via email

Answer: Thanks, Ed. Brad Miller and Nick Maton are expected to get most of the starts, but Scott Kingery could see some action there, too. Maton had a great first series filling in for Gregorius at shortstop, and I’d be surprised if the Phillies didn’t give him an extended look this weekend. They’re facing three right-handed pitchers in a hitter-friendly ballpark. Could be a good chance for the lefty-swinging rookie to stay hot.