Brooky: The great ones, like Howard, are always last to know

CLEARWATER, Fla. - They are always the last to know, and it is entirely understandable. If you spent all of your life doing something so many others would love to do and you did it better than almost everyone, you would never want it to end.

As a result, you would become blind to your own shortcomings and refuse to surrender to or even acknowledge the inevitable decay caused by time, wear and tear.

Ryan Howard has arrived at that place so many other superstars have been before, and the only way his view of reality is going to match what is actually happening is if he can be the first to build a working time machine. Short of that, the second-best slugger in Phillies history is 41 days from beginning his 13th and final season with the team. It is most appropriate that he intends to go down swinging.

After the Phillies conducted their first full-squad workout of spring training Tuesday, Howard sat down inside the lunch room at Bright House Field and went on the offensive in regards to his past, present and future.

"Probably not," was his answer when asked if he thought it was fair that manager Pete Mackanin intends to sit him this season against lefthanders unless he proves he can hit them at a far better clip than the .130 he hit last year.

"But it is what it is," Howard said. "The situation is the situation. You just go out there and play."

Even though he does not want to admit it, Howard's situation is grim. At 36, he is a veteran first baseman on a team in the midst of a major youth movement. The manager, the general manager and the team president have all changed since this time a year ago, and none of them have any reason to pledge their allegiance to Howard.

The only reason he is here is because the Phillies owe him $35 million, and even that part of the equation could be in jeopardy. If Major League Baseball uncovers evidence during its ongoing investigation that he used performance-enhancing drugs, he would likely have to forfeit at least some of that money.

Howard spoke only briefly about the hot mess that surfaced right after Christmas when Al Jazeera America aired a documentary that linked Howard, Washington's Ryan Zimmerman and Denver quarterback Peyton Manning to a clinic that distributed human growth hormones. Howard and Zimmerman have since filed a defamation suit in federal court.

"You know, it's definitely a surprise," he said. "But with the actions being taken as far as the litigation . . . I'm just going to leave it at that."

Howard undoubtedly is more concerned about protecting his reputation than any financial reward, and he admitted to being upset about the way he was portrayed by the media during the 2015 season when he hit .229 with 23 home runs and 77 RBIs.

"There's nothing you can do about it," he said. "Last year is last year. This is a fresh year. Just as last year was bad, this year I can go out and hit .300 against lefties. Then what do you say?"

Congratulations on successfully building the first working time machine and landing in 2006 again.

Howard, with few exceptions, has never had much success against lefties. He pointed to two years ago when he posted a .770 OPS against them, but his .619 OPS against lefties since 2011 ranks 201st among 212 qualifying big-league hitters.

Eventually, he pulled out the blame-the-media card, an old favorite for great athletes in decline.

"Last year was a tough year," he said. "I wasn't happy with the media. The way I've felt with everything that I've done here in Philadelphia, I just felt I was being portrayed as something worse. To be honest with you guys, I felt like I was being portrayed as the bad guy."

Howard said he wants to play beyond 2016, but the odds seem to be stacked against him given the fact that no team showed any interest in acquiring him from the Phillies last year.

The Big Piece, however, still thinks he can play the way he once did just as Mike Schmidt did before he entered his final days with the Phillies in 1989.

"I still think I will hit 30 or so home runs this year and drive in a lot of runs," the Hall of Fame third baseman said then. "And how could anyone expect me to say otherwise?"

Schmidt hit six home runs and retired on Memorial Day with a .203 batting average.

The great ones are always the last to know when it's over.