Philadelphia @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Apr 26, 2010 ) Philadelphia 1, San Francisco 5
One of the top sluggers in baseball agreed to a five-year extension on Monday that could keep him with the Philadelphia Phillies through the 2017 season.
First baseman Ryan Howard landed a $125 million package that will make his average salary of $25 million the second-richest contract in baseball behind New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million average).
The rich extension begins in 2012 and contains a club option for 2017. Howard was slated to become a free agent after the 2011 campaign.
Howard went 0-for-3 on Monday after the extension was announced prior to the Phillies’ series-opener against the San Francisco Giants. Philadelphia lost Monday’s game and the two teams play again Tuesday and Wednesday.
With Howard being 30 years old, the Phillies are gambling that he’ll still be a big-time force in the latter stages of the contract.
Howard has hit 45 or more homers in each of the past four seasons, topped by a career-best 58 in 2006 when he was named the National League's Most Valuable Player.
Howard has 572 RBIs over the past four seasons. His lowest RBI total during that span is 136.
The Phillies have played in the past two World Series with a core of players that includes Howard, second baseman Chase Utley and shortstop Jimmy Rollins. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 and lost to the Yankees in 2009.
Howard is off to his customary slow start with just three homers in Philadelphia’s first 19 games of the season. He last homered on April 10.
But that’s hardly a cause for alarm as Howard traditionally heats up as the weather does. He has 20 career homers in April, easily the lowest monthly total of his career.
He has just five hits in his last 36 at-bats but could be in line to break out of the slump on Tuesday when San Francisco sends Todd Wellmeyer to the hill.
Howard is 4-for-7 with two homers off Wellmeyer, who was struggled badly so far this season.
Wellmeyer (0-3) has an 8.16 ERA in three starts and has lasted just four innings in two of them. He has allowed five homers in 14 1/3 innings.
Wellmeyer’s career ERA against the Phillies stands at 6.75.
Veteran left-hander Jamie Moyer starts for Philadelphia and he has pitched six innings in all three starts this season. He has a 5.00 ERA but didn’t allow an earned run while holding the Atlanta Braves to four hits in his most-recent start.
Moyer hasn’t had much luck at AT&T Park in San Francisco. He’s 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA.
San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval is swinging a hot bat, having hit .524 over his last six games. Sandoval is hitting .365 on the season and has a .347 career average against lefties.