We've seen the best and worst, the yin and yang, of Ryan Howard this postseason.

The best was on vivid display in Games 3 and 4 of the World Series when he scraped the sky with three home runs, a power surge that paced the Phillies to a 3-1 Series lead over Tampa Bay.

The worst has been just as vivid: too many men left on base in critical at-bats. To be fair, it's a disease plaguing the entire offense. Prior to Monday night's suspended Game 5, which took place amid tsunami-like conditions at Citizens Bank Park, the Phils were 6-for-47 with runners in scoring position.

Run Howard's postseason numbers (17 hits, 20 Ks, .283 BA) past Charlie Manuel and the Phils' skipper shrugs. Not surprising, perhaps, since Manuel is comfortable with big boppers, having coached a crew of them — Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Eddie Murray — in Cleveland prior to coming to Philly.

"In baseball, there's a difference between great hitters and real, real great hitters, and I mean this, too," Manuel said. "I look at Ryan Howard, he's a carrier. And a carrier is somebody that can take your team and get the big hits and knock in runs, can put you on your back and carry you. And Howard, he's a carrier."

Manuel has infused the Phils with an American League-style mindset, has built their offense around the long ball. "Powerball," they call it here in Philly.

"When a well-hit fly ball comes down behind the fence," Manuel said, "that's your greatest hit in baseball."

If it seems at times that a Howard at-bat is all-or-nothing, that he suffers from TMS — towering moon shots on one hand; too many strikeouts on the other — he's learned to live with it.

"When you go through a cool spell, that's part of the game," he said. "You have your ups and downs, your good days and bad days. It's about staying on the same plane. You're going to go through those runs. Unfortunately for me, it started out early in the playoffs, but I think everybody would rather have me hot right now."

Howard's playoff slump was so pronounced at the start of the Series that Rays manager Joe Maddon intentionally walked Chase Utley in Game 1 to get to Howard. Tampa Bay's game plan has been simple: starve the big man with a steady diet of curves, lull him to sleep and hope he doesn't stir.

According to Jimmy Rollins, however, it was just a matter of time until Howard had a breakout game.

"People don't see the work Ryan Howard puts in," Rollins said. "Power is part of it, having natural ability is another part. But he's in the cage, sometimes he does his one-hand drill, sometimes he's hitting off the tee, other times hitting off the machine … That's trying to find a consistent stroke, that's not for power. He's trying to find the stroke that keeps his bat in the zone.

"When you have hands and arms as big and as strong as his, all he has to do is hit the barrel. Every once in a while he'll get away from it and want to hit the home run. But when he's hitting line drives, they're going to go out of the ballpark."

Forty-eight times they left the park this year, 47 last season and 58 the year before. His RBI totals over that same span read 146, 136, 149, respectively. That's an average of 51 homers and 144 RBI per season his first three full MLB campaigns. Small wonder he was named NL Rookie of the Year in 2005, league MVP in 2006 and is in the running for NL MVP honors again this season.

"You can say anything you want to, but his numbers sit there for you to look at," Manuel said. "He's a guy that might strike out four times in a row, but he's always dangerous."

Rays pitchers found that out in Game 3 and again in Game 4. The latter saw him hammer two homers and drive in five runs to fuel a 10-2 rout and earn a measure of redemption.

"I'm mortal," he said early Monday morning. "I bleed just like everybody else bleeds. But it's one of those things. Everybody goes through hot streaks and cool streaks; it's making the adjustments to get out of (the slump). Sometimes you'll make the adjustment quick, sometimes it takes a little longer. As long as you get back at the right time and get things going, that's what matters."

When Game 5 resumes tonight, weather permitting, Howard and Co. will look to get the Phils back to baseball's summit, a place where they haven't stood since 1980.

"I didn't really buy into the whole thing about the city (the Curse of Billy Penn) and the (title) drought and all that stuff," he said. "I've heard about it and heard about all the losing. But (I) wanted to help change the face of this organization, change the basis of this organization as far as trying to make it a winner.

"The team we have right now, we're in position to change the label and change the face and achieve the goal that we (Howard, Rollins, Utley, Cole Hamels, et al.) set out when we first got to this organization."

It's a goal within their grasp. All they need do now is to take hold.

E-mail: egruver@lnpnews.com