Howard can't hit what he can't see

SAN FRANCISCO – Hitting is strangely like sleeping. Sometimes it comes naturally, almost effortlessly. Other times it is fitful, nearly impossible. A ballplayer can't will himself to hit any more than you or I can will ourselves to sleep.

And a ballplayer can't drag a Tempur-Pedic mattress and goose-down pillows into the batter's box to "get comfortable," which Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard insists is the antidote for his slumbering lumber.

Howard is only 20 months removed from one of the greatest power-hitting displays in major league history, batting .313 with 58 home runs and 149 RBIs in his first full season. He was the National League most valuable player at 26, one year after he hit 22 homers in 88 games to win Rookie of the Year honors.

Now he's batting .171, with 24 hits juxtaposed wanly against 54 strikeouts in 140 at-bats. He has seven home runs and 18 RBIs. He's lying awake at night.

"It bothers me, of course it does," he said. "I can run through it in my mind, do extra hitting in the cage, watch video, talk about it all day long, but it goes back to feeling comfortable, in your stance, in your set-up and in seeing the ball."

Howard's protracted slump is a touchy subject, and he has all but stopped talking to the media. Prodded gently near the end of the Phillies' seven-game swing through Arizona and San Francisco, he consented to an interview and sounded like an insomniac describing his condition to a doctor.

"I can't get comfortable," he said. "It's a feeling that's hard to explain. You just know when it's there and when it's not."

So, how do you get comfortable?

"That's the million-dollar question," he said. "Just relax and remind yourself what it feels like. Just keep believing it will happen and keep trying every day."

Howard has always been a feast-or-famine hitter. He set a major league record with 199 strikeouts last season while hitting 47 home runs and batting .268. He struck out 181 times during his MVP season. So perhaps he is better equipped to handle a lengthy drought than most players.

"You definitely have to stay mentally strong when you're the type of hitter I am," he said. "You can't let doubts creep in."

Reinforcement is only a phone call away. Howard has tremendous family support, from his no-nonsense father, Ron, his unconditionally sympathetic mother, Cheryl, and his two brothers and one sister, high achievers all.

"They say to learn from every experience, to become stronger through the struggle," Howard said. "Learn what you can from it, that’s what my dad says. It's the only thing you can do."

The slow start is a more severe repeat of last season, when Howard went on the disabled list after batting .204 in the first 29 games. His left quadriceps was hurting, yet even though his DL stint occurred the day after he hit a grand slam, his psyche might have benefited the most from the two weeks off.

Howard's production gradually improved upon his return, peaking when it mattered most. Over the last 10 regular-season games, he hit in nine and homered in seven as the Phillies overtook the New York Mets to win the NL East title.

"We don't win the division without Ryan Howard," Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth said. "And we need him to win this year, too."

Manager Charlie Manuel said he does not plan to bench Howard, a move advocated on Philadelphia talk radio. The fact that the slumping slugger is sandwiched in the lineup by the fast-starting Chase Utley and Pat Burrell makes it easier for Manuel to continue to write Howard's name into the cleanup spot.

"Is he going to hit? Yes," Manuel said. "Is he going to have a big year? Yes. I have all the confidence in the world that he's going to be fine. There is no choice but to keep playing him."

Howard is not like some other players off to dreadful starts. He's not Andruw Jones, out of shape, seemingly uncaring. He's not Richie Sexson, angry and ill-suited to his home park. He's not Jim Edmonds, broken down and washed up.

He's one of the most promising young hitters in many years, a slugger who along with Prince Fielder could be the next Bonds and Griffey, Stargell and McCovey, Foxx and Gehrig.

Unless it turns out he's Dave Kingman. The strikeouts are staggering. Howard swings and misses 35.1 percent of the time, third-most in baseball and well above the MLB average of 20 percent. He swung and missed 34.9 percent of the time last season and 32.9 percent in 2006, so he's gotten only minimally worse.

The biggest statistical difference this year is that he's batting only .204 on fastballs in the strike zone after hitting those pitches at a better than .400 clip the past two years. He's also been swinging at more pitches early in counts and having less success.

"He wants it too bad," Manuel said. "He's pressing."

Howard doesn't deny it. But he'd rather address comfort, or lack thereof. And, by the way, he isn't seeing the ball well, either.

"It's not an eyesight thing, my eyesight is fine," he said. "It's not picking up the ball early, and it's pulling my eyes off the ball when I swing. That's what I mean by not seeing it."

He does keep his eyes glued to video of his at-bats, watching along with hitting coach Milt Thompson. They see a difference: In 2006, the bulk of Howard's strikeouts came from him letting pitches get too deep in the strike zone before he'd swing. Now he's out in front on most swings.

Numbers compiled by Inside Edge confirm the thesis: The left-handed hitting Howard hit to the opposite field 24 percent of the time last year but has gone that way only 17 percent of the time this season.

And when he does pull the ball, he is getting it airborne nearly 30 percent less than he did last year. How significant is that? Howard has batted .703 the past two years when pulling the ball in the air, while batting only .133 when pulling it on the ground.

"He's doing the opposite of what he used to do," Thompson said. "He needs to trust his hands, stay back and use the opposite field."

Howard did so Saturday against Tim Lincecum, belting a home run to left field to lead off the second inning. And he tripled to right-center Sunday, although he struck out twice.

"I've identified what's wrong, now it's a matter of taking one at-bat after another," he said.

Teammate Jimmy Rollins helps him in the batting cage, talking hitting and pitching soft-toss. Thompson and Manuel will continue to watch video and continue to write his name on the lineup card.

Everyone is buoyed by a constant in Howard's short career: His batting average gets better as the season progresses, reaching a crescendo when it matters most, after August, when he's batted .309.

And slept better.

"Going through something like this makes you a better player, a better hitter," Howard said. "It'll come. I just need a seeing-eye single or a double down the left-field line for a multi-hit game, and that'll do it.

"I'll finally feel comfortable, and I'll catch fire."