"Ryan Howard swung at ball four. Kyle Lohse was struggling and there were two runners on base and Howard poked his bat out at a pitch that was down and away.

Howard fouled that ball off, depositing it into the seats behind the Cardinals dugout. He did not advance to first base. He did not load the bases. It was the sixth inning and the reaction to that swing wasn't overly positive at the time, not on Twitter and not in the press box and maybe not on couches across the area, either.

Howard did, however, keep the at-bat going. Did he ever."