PHILADELPHIA — Virtually every player would enjoy seeing his name in the World Series record book, although St. Louisan Ryan Howard, a terror in the first two rounds of the playoffs for the Philadelphia Phillies, attained some notoriety he rather would not have Thursday night.

Howard, hitting .325 for the postseason with 15 runs batted in for 11 games, struck out four straight times in the Phillies' 3-1 Game 2 loss to the New York Yankees, making him the 12th player to fan at least four times in a game. While tied for the most strikeouts in a World Series game by a position player, Howard has to cede the overall record to Yankees pitcher George Pipgras, who whiffed five times in five at-bats while he beat the Chicago Cubs 7-5 in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series.

It isn't as if strikeouts are something new to Howard, who will be 30 years old next month. He has fanned 136 to 146 times in each of the last four years. And he has struck out 14 times in 40 at-bats this postseason.

Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson, a former Cardinals outfielder, said he makes nothing of Howard's four-strikeout performance Thursday.

"It doesn't faze the power hitters," Thompson said. "A hitter like me, it would bother a lot, but not the power hitters. They expect to strike out."

Howard, who declined interviews Friday, calling it a "day of rest," has six strikeouts in two games, halfway to the Series record of 12 set by Kansas City's Willie Wilson in 1980. But also halfway is Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, who was the New York hitting star in the first two rounds but has fanned three times in each World Series game. A-Rod is 0 for eight, while Howard had two doubles in Game 1.

As Buck Martinez, former manager and current television and radio analyst, pointed out during Friday's off-day, opposing teams concentrate much more in pre-Series meetings on the hitters who can do the most damage. Rodriguez and Howard, said Martinez, clearly have been the chosen ones in this regard.

Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel, addressing the Howard-Rodriguez struggle, and the lack of offense in general, said, "That's pretty easy to answer. The guy standing out on the mound. He's got something to do with that, too."

The Phillies are hitting just .231 for two games and the Yankees .222.

Lafayette High product Howard hit 45 home runs this season, his lowest total in the last four seasons. He had 58 in his Most Valuable Player year of 2006. But, after streamlining his body — losing an inch (from 42 to 41) around his waistline from 2008 to 2009 through more exercise and a more nutritional diet, he seems to have made himself not only a better hitter but a better overall player.

For instance, he had eight regular-season stolen bases, a total that is six more than he had in his first four seasons. "I'm trying to diversify my portfolio a little bit," he joked earlier in the week.

Thompson said that Howard getting in bettter shape "has helped (him) in a lot of ways. He can move around a little better. He's played first base tremendously better when he wasn't carrying around that extra weight. He took it personally with people saying he's not a very good first baseman."

Howard, who cut his errors at first from 19 to 14 , said his weight loss and redistribution have been such that "defensively, my first step has been quicker."

However, the Phillies didn't take Howard in the fifth round of the 2001 draft for his defense, nor are they terribly concerned about it now. His position is hitter. But he isn't necessarily just a slugger anymore.

"My goal is not to try to hit home runs," he said. "Whatever happens when the ball comes off the bat happens. If the ball goes over the wall, that's great. ... If I can find some green (grass) or get on base, that's the main goal."

Howard conceded that, for a time, he got away from what stamped him as a batsman — his ability to hit the ball to the opposite field. "When I first came up, that was all I was doing, going to the opposite field," he said.

"This year, I'm trying to get back to doing that. It kind of got around that I was coming off the ball a little."

Thompson said, "He's more patient now. He's going to take what you give him. Before, he was always trying to hit home runs, trying to pick us up. He knows he's got a good supporting cast behind him."

To this assessment, Manuel added, "I think he's much better than people really realize. He has a way of finding RBIs from the seventh inning on. That makes him a special kind of player."

Like any good hitting coach, Thompson reminds as much as he instructs. "You play to your strengths," Thompson said. "Ryan's history is in hitting balls from center field to left. As long as he goes back with that, he's going to have great success.

"I keep telling him, 'Big boy, left-center.' There's usually a Bud Light sign somewhere in left field, so I yell at him, 'Bud Light. Bud Light.'

In Citizens Bank Park, where Game 3 of the World Series is scheduled for tonight, there is a Budweiser, not Bud Light, sign in left-center field. As a St. Louisan worth his lager, though, Howard won't have any trouble with that message, either.