"Those first strides around the grass at the Carpenter Complex came with only a small audience on hand: Three trainers, a couple of coaches and teammates Chase Utley and Jim Thome, who were fielding grounders at first.

But Ryan Howard always has known how to draw a crowd, and by the time he'd jogged his way alongside the fence a few times, a sizeable contingent of fans standing on the mezzanine in front of Bright House Field were zealously fighting for a good view.

It wasn't that Howard displayed any of his trademark fireworks Monday. No one was expecting that."