I feel the same. They had Parra warming up in the 8th in case it got to Howard but since it's the 9th inning in a "closing situation" you can't go with the better split. And as I type this Howard gets a base hit.
There was nothing he could do with that pitch except weakly flyout which he did. Make the pitcher make a good pitch, don't let him off the hook by swinging at the pitch he wanted you to.