Conlin: Suddenly there are more experts than strikeouts in Ryan Howard’s slump (RR)

The Sweet Science of the Swing Era with Coach Conlin.

Most of these former line-drive machines correctly state that Howard stands too far off the plate with a stance that is much too open. For the record, he is setting up in just about the same stance he brought to the majors in 2005, when he was rookie of the year. The difference, of course, is what he does with the stance once it unfurls into the various components of a swing.

Charlie Manuel has explained it in a peanut shell. Howard is trying to pull everything. He is trying to hit “an 11-run homer” with every swing. He is swinging so early on everything he no longer lets the ball get deep into the strike zone the way he did during his flaming hot streaks in 2006 and ‘07.

My personal theory - hey, I was a high-school gap hitter - is that like a lot of tall hitters, he doesn’t have a good knowledge of his very large strike zone. I’d like to see Manuel and batting coach Milt Thompson set up a simple drill that former Dodgers GM Branch Rickey devised to teach a flailing young outfielder named Duke Snider the strike zone. In “We Would Have Played For Nothing,” Snider tells about Rickey bringing him to Vero Beach in 1948 for special instruction. There would be a pitcher, a catcher, an umpire, Rickey and several coaches, including the great George Sisler. Snider would be in the cage without a bat. His job was to call each pitch. Then the umpire would call it.