Could this be the road trip that snaps Harper out of slump?

PHILADELPHIA - If ever there was a road trip tailor-made to break Bryce Harper out of his slump, this might well be it.

The Nationals open a three-game series tonight at Citizens Bank Park, a hitter's haven that has been awfully kind to Harper of late. Then they head to Cincinnati, home of the bandbox otherwise known as Great American Ball Park and the worst pitching staff in the majors.

Perhaps this is the week Harper gets himself back on track after a difficult month that has made his award-winning April feel like ancient history.

Harper particularly likes Philadelphia, with its short porch in right field and reachable gap in left-center. He enters tonight's series opener against the Phillies having homered in six consecutive games, tying the record for any visiting player at any major league stadium, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In 31 career games at Citizens Bank Park, Harper owns a .325 batting average, four doubles, three triples, 11 homers, 23 RBIs, 12 walks and 21 runs.

So this series comes at a good time for Harper, who after winning NL Player of the Month honors in April is hitting .205 with four homers and only one double so far in May.

Manager Dusty Baker, though, doesn't want Harper (or any of his players) thinking too much about a homer-friendly park.

"A hitter's ballpark also tries to have you sometimes hit the ball out of the ballpark. Which works against you, instead of just hitting the ball and letting it go out of the ballpark," Baker said. "That's the thing. Hank Aaron used to say: 'It's not how far, it's how many.' Sometimes the pride thing gets in the way, and you want to hit these tape-measure home runs, but it still only counts as one. That's the thing we've got to realize, that in these small ballparks, all you've got to do is hit it. It doesn't matter if it scrapes the fence or if it goes out of the whole stadium. The main thing is: You've just got to get a good pitch to hit, and don't miss it."

Harper showed signs of life over the weekend. He launched monster home runs Thursday (off the façade of the third deck at Nationals Park) and Saturday (onto the batter's eye behind the center field fence). He also put together a quality at-bat in the fourth inning yesterday, calmly singling to right to drive in Michael A. Taylor for the Nats' first run of the game.

Harper's lack of doubles, though, has been telling. His lone two-bagger of the month came May 20 in Miami, when he lined a ball into the right field corner.

"Things go in cycles," Baker said. "I foresee him hitting a lot of doubles."

The encouraging news for the Nationals: In spite of Harper's slump, they're 14-14 this month entering tonight's game. The fact that previously struggling lineup mates Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and Ben Revere have begun hitting have helped soften the blow of the MVP's poor production.

"People, I guess, are just used to Bryce doing most of the carrying," Baker said. "But we have some other guys that are capable of carrying, too. That's what a good team is all about. You don't just depend on that one guy. I just hope that we can continue and enhance on what we already have going."