The phrase “adding insult to injury” has never been more true than it is right now for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Friday night, the Phillies watched their record-breaking season come to an end in Game 5 of the NLDS in a 1-0 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals.
For the second season in a row the Phillies playoff run ended with slugger Ryan Howard at bat.
Howard cracked a grounder down the first base line and took off for the bag. Within the first couple steps he crumbled to the ground grasping his ankle.
He underwent an MRI early Saturday, and Philadelphia radio personality Howard Eskin reported the results via Twitter: “I was told MRI did reveal torn achilles. Out til at least may or june.”
Not very good news for a Phillies team that struggled offensively all season. The loss of their big bat raises a lot of questions entering the offseason.
Howard has been quite durable throughout his career, but battled ankle problems all through the 2011 season. He reached his limit on the final play.
Now, it’s unclear if Howard will be ready to go to start next the beginning of the 2012 season. That’s a big issue for a Phillies team that just lost 1-0 in the final game of their season.
Moreover, the Phillies already have plenty of issues to deal with this offseason.
Pitchers Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are all facing contractual situations, while Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez could be on their way out as well.
Those are a lot of holes to fill. Now there is another major one that needs to be looked at due to the Howard injury.
Come the start of next season, the Phillies could have new faces at first base, shortstop, third base and left field.
It will be a crazy offseason in Philadelphia. Baseball’s oldest team needs to get younger.
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