The buzz was audible, and the applause was polite when Ryan Howard was announced as a pinch-hitter during the Sept. 1 game against the Atlanta Braves. The newest Phillie was making his major-league debut at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
"It was a dream come true," Howard said when asked to relive the moment. "I think everybody who plays baseball wants to be here. To be able to get up here and get that (at-bat) was great. It was unreal."
Perhaps a little overanxious, he swung and missed the first pitch offered from Jaret Wright.
"That was probably just nerves," said Howard. "After that, I just calmed down so I could make it a good AB."
After working a 3-1 count, he fouled off a pitch and was then called out on a fastball that had a tail on it. That pitch headed straight toward the left-handed batter, but just as Howard jumped to get out of the way, the tail wagged and caught the inside corner of the plate.
"That was a dirty pitch," Howard said. "What can I say? He started it right at me and ran it back (toward the plate). There wasn't much I could do."
In all fairness, Wright is having a torrid second half. Going into Tuesday's game, he had won 12 of his last 13 decisions. What he was probably saying to Howard on that last pitch was "Welcome to the big leagues, kid."
"Yeah," laughed the rookie. "I think so. He was tough. I've seen some (good pitches), but that one was real good."
And considering the success that he's had over the last two summers, the slugger is going to have to learn how to hit pitches like that if he wants to be successful at this level.
On the night he was promoted and made his debut, it was also announced that Howard had won the Paul Owens Award as the Phillies best minor-league player for the second straight year.
Philadelphia selected him in the fifth round of the 2001 draft out of Southwest Missouri State University. After hitting .304 with 23 home runs and 82 RBIs at Class A Clearwater in 2003, Howard was named the Florida State League MVP. He began this season at AA Reading.
After hitting .297 with 37 homers and 102 RBIs for the R-Phillies, Howard was promoted again, this time to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 30. In 29 games for the Red Barons, he hit .270 with eight dingers and 29 RBIs. His combined stats for 2004 before arriving in Philadelphia are a .291 average with 46 homers and 131 RBIs in 131 games.
That's impressive at any level. Did the player ever surprise himself with such power output?
"Somewhat, but I tried not to get caught up with it," Howard said. "I just tried to stay focused. Looking back on it, I guess I am (surprised)."
The player was in the dark about just what his role would be with the Phillies in September, but general manager Ed Wade said it would be up to field boss Larry Bowa.
"Bo is going to try to pick and choose some spots for him to give him a little experience," said Wade. "This is more of a chance for him to sort of soak up the atmosphere and get some big-league time under his belt. At the same time, we don't have a lot of left-handed bats off the bench, so he gives Bo a pretty potent weapon to use in certain situations.
"We don't normally use September as a reward for performance at the minor-league level, but when you look at the kind of year that Ryan had, it just seems to be a fitting cap to his season. He made a lot of progress this summer. We think he still has some more ground to cover, but we think that he has a chance to be a good big-league player.
"And at this stage of his career," Wade continued, "he's already on the (40-man) roster, and he's had one spring training with (the parent club) and some big-league experience, so we think he should have the attitude coming into (2005) spring training that he has a chance to make the ballclub. We'll give him every opportunity to do that — to show us that he deserves to be here."
In the past, the Phillies have had some highly touted prospects fizzle, due to injuries or underachievement. Howard may be a year or two away, but I like his chances.
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