There’s something different about the Phillies’ powerful first baseman in this year's playoffs. Before each at-bat he seems calm, cool and collected in the dugout with his head down in deep focus.
It almost seems as if he has a Zen-like concentration in the 2009 playoffs.
Well his Jedi mind tricks are working, because Ryan Howard became the first player in major league history to record an RBI in seven straight postseason games (in the same season) with his two-run triple off Dodgers’ righty Hiroki Kuroda in the first inning of Sunday night’s romping.
Howard can tie Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive postseason games with an RBI Monday night if he drives home a run against former Phillie Randy Wolf.
The difference is that Gehrig set the record by recording an RBI in eight consecutive playoff games from 1928 to 1932, so if Howard breaks it in a single season, it will be all the more special.
This record is no joke. There’s a reason no one broke it for 77 years -- it’s a tough feat to accomplish. Just being mentioned in the same breath as Lou Gehrig is special, so breaking his playoff record is something to be truly proud of.
Howard has hit .385 (10 for 26) with one home run and 12 RBIs in the first seven games of the 2009 playoffs, but it’s not just his numbers that are impressive -- the big man is hitting in the clutch with runners in scoring position.
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The 6-foot-4 255-pound powerhouse really turned it on down the stretch and we can’t wait to see him hit his way into history.
Tune in tonight at 8:07 p.m. to see if Howard can record an RBI in his eighth straight playoff game to match Lou Gehrig’s record.
But if he doesn’t, it’s no big deal -- the big guy still deserves all the credit in the world for what he’s done for this team.
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