Thursday: Revisiting the lineup protection debate

Remember when keeping pitchers honest against Ryan Howard was one of the primary concerns of summer? Either fans have short memories, or they’ve written off the issue as a bunch of malarkey. It’s the Beerleaguer way to sweat the small stuff and ignore the big picture, and offensively, it doesn't get any bigger than Ryan Howard, who, as Baseball Prospectus likes to point out, "has been a statistical backwards sprint for two seasons." Howard's shockingly mediocre .339 OBP baffles statisticians...