Farewell bash: Howard embracing moment

PHILADELPHIA — Everybody this week keeps asking Ryan Howard how he feels.

Is he feeling sentimental? Is he wistful? Is he sad? Is he looking forward to Sunday afternoon’s season finale against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park, or is it something he is not ready to face? Does he have warm, fuzzy memories rushing through his mind every time he steps onto the field, or is he blocking out those thoughts to try to get through an emotional weekend?

“You’re just supposed to be you,” Howard said after Saturday afternoon’s 5-3 loss to the Mets at Citizens Bank Park. “Your emotions and all that kind of stuff, I don’t know if everybody’s expecting me to show up and I’m supposed to be a certain way. I’m just myself.”

• Biggest Pieces: Highlighting Howard’s career

Howard played the penultimate game of his Phillies career Saturday. He hit a game-tying home run to right field in the fifth inning. It was the 382nd home run of his career, moving him into a tie for 67th place on the all-time list with Jim Rice and Frank Howard. The Phillies fans in the stands — if Mets fans did not outnumber them Saturday, they certainly were more boisterous — stood and cheered, requesting a curtain call from the greatest first baseman in Phillies history.

Howard obliged.

“It was cool, it was cool,” Howard said.

It …

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