Photo credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Photo credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Speaking to the media today, Ryan Howard, via Ryan Lawrence, Philly.com

“In all actuality we’ve actually played very well this year. I disagree with everybody else. Our record doesn’t necessarily reflect that right now, but, you know, we’ve played well. We had three real bad games. So the only thing to do is go out there and try to win again.”

… and via Pat Gallen (@PatGallen_975):

“It’s 8 games. You guys are trying to start a panic attack. If you wanna panic go ahead and panic, but don’t bring it around here.”

Absurd, on several fronts: 1) Does Ryan Howard realize that the media isn’t panicking, they’re just doing their job, which isn’t to be a cheerleader? Not saying that they can’t be a little ridiculous sometimes (…), but Howard, a veteran, knows this. Right?

2) Howard has to understand that this isn’t a minor blip on the radar. The Phillies have been bad for two full seasons, they won nine spring training games, and they’ve started the regular season 3-5.

3) “… we’ve played really well this year… we had three real bad games.” They’ve played eight. Three were really bad. That’s not good.