WASHINGTON - Ryan Howard was smiling and chatting with his teammates while heading from the weight room to the indoor batting cages when he made a quick pit stop to grab a bat from his locker at National Park Thursday afternoon.
"I'm working," he said, keeping his pregame comments brief. "Working. Got to get my work done."
Howard has been putting in the work for months. The results haven't showed on the field through the first 2 weeks of the regular season.
As a result, Ryne Sandberg slid Howard's name down three spots in the Phillies' starting lineup for the 10th game of the 2015 season.