Things just couldn’t get worse for the Philadelphia Phillies.

First, after landing the best player on the trade deadline market in Roy Oswalt, he struggled in his debut against a terrible team in the Washington Nationals. It was not a good sight to see, as Washington marched to an 8-1 victory.

Then, entering a game against the Nats again, it seemed that Philly would win and shake off that loss they suffered from.

They didn’t. The Nationals won again.

And now, the team’s best player and slugger in Ryan Howard left today’s game with a sprained right ankle. Oh Lord, please help our beloved Phillies!

Howard was injured after a throw by Washington’s right fielder Michael Morse. Howard tried immediately to scramble back to second base, sprained his ankle, and had to be helped off the field by manager Charlie Manuel and a team trainer.

Things couldn’t get worse for Howard.

He is currently on a slump as he has been oh-for-14. That is not a good sign.

Along with that, he just had his X-Rays and they did not turn out that good. He had X-Rays on his ankle, and it turned out negative.

He also had to have X-Rays on his elbow, too, after getting hit by a pitch from John Lannan. The results on his elbow were negative as well.

Howard has been hitting .292 with 23 home runs. He also has 81 RBI. Hopefully he can recover soon so he can start slugging away again.

Right now, the Phils are a pretty banged up squad.

Second baseman Chase Utley has a sprained right thumb and center fielder Shane Victorino has a abdominal strain. Both are on the disabled list. Along with that, Raul Ibanez has a sore left wrist after trying to dive for the ball in last night’s game against Washington.

Hopefully everything will get recovered soon.

 

Josh Dhani is a Philadelphia Phillies beat writer. You can see more of his work regarding the MLB at clementeatthebat.com

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