Ryan Howard on the 0-3 Phillies

Extra frustrating with all the expectations?
It's frustrating to lose, period, whether you have expectations or not.

How about you, with the way you hit?
Not good. I'm not too happy about it. But what can you do?

Are you still fighting your swing, like have all spring?
It's not where I want it to be. I mean, there's balls that you think you should hit, and you don't hit them.

How do you fix that?
You do what you need to do. It's three games, and everybody is kind of jumping ship and panicking right now. For us, it's three games out of 162. It'll get right. I'm not worried about it. It's a little frustrating. But it'll come.

Are guys pressing?
I don't think guys are really pressing. It's just coming here, trying to get used to the conditions. It was snowing today. It was a little different coming from Florida. We're trying to get into the mix.

Something about a slow start?
Obviously, it's a slow start after three games (sarcastically). I don't really get it. If we were like 0-10 or something I could understand that. But it's three games. One series. We got to go down to Florida, take care of business and have a good road trip.

How magnified is 0-3 start?
Very. Very magnified.

Is it hard not to feel that vibe?
It's not hard, but when you hear about it everyday, constantly, it's more annoying.

Is it surprising?
Yes and no, because we are only three games into the season. And no, because we've had slow starts in the past. For people to come out and say, are you guys worried about this or are you worried about that, I'm not really surprised to hear that. At the same time, we're only three games in.