"Ryan Howard had been swinging too fast during a 2-for-25 skid, so he started Saturday's game against San Diego on Charlie Manuel's bench.

"Not giving myself a chance to see the ball," Howard said.

Yet, after the Phillies saw a 3-0 lead turn into a 4-3 deficit and in Saturday's heat, here was their manager, suddenly in an awful hurry to get his once-and-future RBI behemoth to the plate.

Told to grab a bat, Howard first thought he would hit for the second man in the Phillies' seventh, pitcher Michael Stutes.

"Told me I was going to be on deck, then next thing I was hitting for [John] Mayberry," Howard said.

In Manuel's army, too, they are told to hurry up and wait. The manager expected that after Chad Qualls faced Mayberry, Padres skipper Bud Black would come back with a left-hander. And the last thing Howard needs to see these days is a left-hander.

So hurriedly up to bat for Mayberry, the first baseman for a day, went Howard, with some extra work in the cage Saturday to remind him to stay back.

For a left-handed hitter, the definition is smacking one out to almost straightaway center, and this is exactly what Howard did -- and quickly too. He crushed Qualls' first pitch to tie the game.

A double inside first by Ross Gload, a walk to Jimmy Rollins, and a wild pitch later, Michael Martinez -- who has not had trouble staying back on anything besides his glee after hitting game-changing three-run homers -- put one into the first row in right to send the Phillies to an 8-6 win and a five-game lead over Atlanta."