Phillies 1B Ryan Howard halts slump with blast Monday

Any kind of hits have been hard to come by for Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard lately, but he certainly came up with a big one - at least at the time - Monday night against the host Dodgers.

Howard smashed a three-run homer to right-center in the third inning to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead. He also fanned twice in the game.

That it was his lone hit is no surprise. Howard is batting .100 (3-for-30) over his last 10 games as his average has plunged to .218.