The final and perhaps most telling test of Ryan Howard's career isn't about his ability to play baseball at an elite level with a professionalism and drive that few can match. Howard passed that exam a long time ago, and nothing about what will transpire between now and the end of the season can diminish his enormous role in the best sustained stretch of baseball in Phillies franchise history.
Ryan Howard's last test will arrive instead when manager Pete Mackanin announces that Howard is no longer the team's first baseman, with the exception of the occasional day off for Tommy Joseph.