"If he stays on the ball and follows the ball, he's going to be pretty good. I think he'd be a better hitter by being more patient and next year he may be all that. But he's still dangerous in the fact that if he does follow the ball good and he hits it, he can hurt you. Because they've got to make up their mind. Like the Cardinals with [Albert] Pujols. We've got to make up our mind, do we want to try to get him to chase? Or do we just want to put him on and go to the next guy?"
In the first two games of the NLDS, Howard has not only shown patience in clutch situations, but done some damage.
According to baseball-reference.com, Howard batted just .217 after reaching a full count this season and struck out 38 times in 83 at-bats (45.8 percent).
In the first inning of last night's 5-4 loss to the Cardinals, however, he came up with the bases loaded and nobody out against St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter. He worked a 3-2 count and then delivered a two-run single up the middle.
In the sixth inning of Game 1 on Saturday night, Howard drilled a three-run homer to get the Phillies back into the game on a 3-2 changeup from Kyle Lohse.
Patience, it seems, really can be a virtue.
What it means
The series is now tied, but after being pounded in the opener, the Cardinals have to feel pretty good about their chances.
Not only do they have homefield advantage, but they have lefthander Jaime Garcia waiting to pitch tomorrow. Garcia had an 0.60 earned run average in two starts against the Phillies this season and is 2-1, 1.20 lifetime against them.
