Ryan Howard believes he may have torn Achilles’ tendon

As if Ryan Howard making the final out of the season for a second straight year wasn’t painful enough for Phillies fans, there’s a chance he could be sidelined when his five-year, $125 million extension kicks in next season.

According to David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News, Howard believes he may have torn his left Achilles’ tendon while attempting to run out a ground ball with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in Friday’s Game 5 loss to the Cardinals. The 31-year-old first baseman went down in a heap as soon as he got out of the batter’s box and wasn’t able to continue running as Nick Punto easily threw him out at first base to end the ballgame and the Phillies’ season.

“I was trying to run, and I just felt this pop,” Howard said. “The whole thing just went numb, like it was on fire. Just tried to keep going, and went down. It literally felt like I was on a flat tire. I tried to get up. Couldn’t go.”

Howard has dealt with bursitis near the tendon for most of the second half of the regular season and was given a cortisone injection prior to the playoffs. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Saturday, but if the Achilles is indeed torn, surgery could cost him a sizable chunk of the 2012 season.

We have plenty of time to talk about what this could mean for the Phillies moving forward, but if Howard needs to miss a couple of months, we could see John Mayberry Jr. fill in at first base while Domonic Brown gets a chance in left field.