Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is eligible to come off the disabled list on Tuesday, but he'll need to make significant progress in order to do so. Howard is still dealing with some pain and swelling in his sprained ankle. "Yeah, I mean, if the pain is bearable and it goes down enough and we get a little bit more of the swelling out," said Howard. "I'll probably get downgraded to a flashing yellow [light] on the basepaths, but other than that, I think I'll be able to go out there and make some things happen." As badly as he wants to return, Howard won't push it. "I'm not going to try to force it, because the worst thing you can do is try to come back before you are ready and just go back on the DL and mess it all up," he said. "I want to make sure it's cool, it's good enough to play, and then go out there and go play. "I think the most important thing is trying to get ready for the stretch run coming down in September, and if it takes a little bit extra time, to make sure that it's 100 percent, I think they probably would rather me do that than try to force it and go straight back on the disabled list."