Ryan Howard to Begin Fun Journey to Ruptured Achilles Recovery

In Game One of the NLDS, Ryan Howard started an 11-run roasting of Jaime Garcia that set the tone for the series and made everybody who wasn’t us feel terrible about themselves.  Then suddenly it was Game Five and Ryan Howard was turning the bottom of the ninth inning into that scene from Hostel.

Instead of letting your focus land on those celebrating Cardinals and how satisfying it would be to throw a boot at each and every one of them, consider the crumpled mess of a first baseman lying in the base path.

"This is potentially bad news for the Phillies, given that the team awarded Howard a five-year, $125 million extension in late April 2010, which takes effect for the 2012 season.–Justin Havens, ESPN"

“Potentially bad” is such a nice way of saying “The potential for this situation to be bad is so beyond 100% that it defies reality.”

The time in which Ryan went from thunderous-home run-hitting-hero to broken war machine putting around the meat counter is simply astounding.  So, I think we can assume that the road to his recovery will be just as quick and easy as the road to horribly injury.  That’s why Ruben Amaro is giving us a very clear picture as to the seriousness of Ryan’s problem–a ruptures Achilles–and a timeframe for his repair.

"“I don’t think it’s going to be half the season.  It may compromise part of the season.”—Ruben Amaro"

In case you’re unfamiliar with Ruben Amaro, that’s about as raw as him reading aloud from his diary, except there are far fewer sections dedicated to “Operation: Planet Smug” whatever that is.

So, Ryan will be motoring from doctor to doctor until he arrives at a conclusion, and then they’ll gently cart him into surgery, and then this whole wonderful offseason will be over and everything will go back to normal.  Somebody’s going to have to make the final out of 2012, and history now indicates that it will be Ryan, in an escalating series of mishaps at the plate.  Who knows what’ll happen next!

My theory?  Giant bird carries him off.