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Anonymous
>Ryan Howard's nominal slump came to an end right around the time that Joe Maddon stopped going after him aggressively with left-handers. Howard, who had a 250-points-of-OPS platoon split during 2008, was homerless in the postseason until Maddon let Matt Garza face him in the sixth inning on Saturday night. Since then, he has three bombs -- two last night, including a critical three-run job in the fourth -- and no one is asking about his struggles any longer. Howard, though, was only struggling against southpaws. When he came to bat in the sixth on Saturday he was batting .307/.419/.424 against right-handers in the postseason, and .133/.316/.133 against lefties, with many of the latter PAs in high-leverage situations. That, and the small-sample-size lack of home runs, fed the perception that there was a problem with Howard. There wasn't. He simply was seeing too many of the pitchers he doesn't hit well in tough spots. Being allowed to face Garza and Andy Sonnanstine in key ABs was a gift, and now the Rays have wrapping paper and shredded ribbon all over their nice floors.
>.133/.316/.133 against lefties
Still a platoon player at best.
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