Ryan Howard confirmed yesterday that, about 4 weeks ago, he was made aware of a letter to him whose sender threatened to shoot him and cripple him. "He said he wouldn't kill me; he'd put me in a wheelchair," Howard said. The letter, according to Howard, was postmarked Scranton, where Howard starred as recently as last season for the Phillies' Triple A team. Howard said the sender was a Mets fan who opined that Mets third baseman and Derby finalist David Wright deserved to win instead of Howard. "It didn't bother me," Howard said. "If he's writing letters like that, that dude's got bigger problems than me."