Yanks, Phils still waiting for hitters to come out of hiding

PHILADELPHIA -- As the Yankees and Phillies worked out Friday while preparing to play only the second Halloween World Series game in history, New York left fielder Johnny Damon was reminiscing about previous Halloweens spent at home with his children.

"I like to get out with the kids and hide behind the bushes, and scare kids who think it's going to be an enjoyable treat," Damon said, smiling devilishly.

Which, by the way, pretty much encapsulates the state of the Yankees and Phillies offenses: In the most fascinating twist so far in a World Series featuring two clubs stocked with thunder and lightning, each lineup is hoping to leap out from behind the bushes any day now and put a good scare into the opposing pitchers.

For hitters, this World Series so far sure ain't been a treat.

The Yankees and Phillies each led their respective leagues in runs scored this summer, yet they've combined to score only 11 total runs in the first two games.

To find a World Series in which fewer runs were scored in Games 1 and 2, you have to reach back nearly a quarter of a century, to 1985, when the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals combined to score just 10.

The 2009 Yankees and Phillies combined for more home runs during the season than any two participants in World Series history, yet the story has been Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Pedro Martinez.

"It's not a home run-hitting contest [where] guys are throwing the ball down the middle to see how far we can hit it," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "It's a whole lot different than the regular season. It all comes down to pitching."

"During the season, you're facing five-man rotations, and let's be honest, some teams don't put out five good starters," said the Yankees' Mark Teixeira, who, despite smacking a bases-empty home run in the fourth inning of Game 2, is hitting .143 (1 for 7) with three strikeouts in this World Series. "In the postseason, each team has three or four good starters, and because this is the World Series, you're facing the best.

"If we faced Josh Beckett and Roy Halladay every day during the season, I don't think our offense would have had the same numbers."

You may have heard something about how good pitching beats good hitting a few thousand times in your life (give or take a few).

Well, you're looking at Exhibit A.

When Lee squared off against Sabathia in New York on Wednesday, it was only the second time in history that two Cy Young winners faced each other in Game 1 of the World Series, following the Greg Maddux-Orel Hershiser duel in 1995 between Atlanta and Cleveland.

In Game 2, the Yankees and Phillies combined for 23 strikeouts -- just two short of the combined World Series record for a nine-inning game, set in 1963 (Yankees vs. Dodgers) and equaled in 2000 (Yankees vs. Mets).

Unexpectedly, the chief culprits have been the two cleanup hitters. Philadelphia's Ryan Howard and the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez have combined to strike out 12 times in 17 at-bats.

Rodriguez has been particularly dreadful. Still looking for his first career World Series hit, he's whiffed six times in eight at-bats.

"Alex has been hitting the ball for three weeks," Jeter said. "Facing Cliff Lee and Pedro, it's kind of hard to sit here and analyze. If pitchers are making their pitches, it's tough to hit."

"We definitely need to pick him up," said Damon, speaking for the other eight hitters in the New York lineup. "As you saw at the end of the Angels' series, he just wasn't being pitched to at all. He's working [in the batting cage] right now as we speak."

As for the other Mr. Not Cleaning Up ...

"Baseball is a game of ups and downs," said Howard, who was so hot in the first two rounds that he's still hitting .325 with two homers and 15 RBI in 11 postseason games despite whiffing in six of nine World Series at-bats. "You're not going to stay hot forever. That's why you have batting averages. That's why you have one day where you can go get three hits and one day where you get none.

"Sometimes, the guy [on the mound] is dealing and there's nothing you can do about it."

Or, as Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, "You can't expect guys to hit a home run every day and to get two hits every day. I mean, you make your pitches, in most cases, you've got a pretty good chance to get guys out."

Burnett made his pitches in Game 2, especially and impressively his first pitches. The Phillies are a notoriously patient team, and Burnett threw first-pitch strikes -- first-pitch called strikes -- to each of the first 11 Philadelphia hitters.

Overall, Burnett wound up throwing first-pitch strikes to 20 of 26 hitters he faced.

Not that the Phillies were pleased to lose, but they weren't displeased with their approach.

"We needed to hit fastballs," manager Charlie Manuel said. "I thought if we hit fastballs early, it would make him throw more curveballs. And when he does that his command is not as good and he gets behind in the count, and then we'd get pitches to hit and we'd have him."

Good plan -- in theory. Instead, the Phillies never got those fastballs to hit. Manuel explained that those first-pitch called strikes mostly were on the black, either the outside corner of the plate or the inside corner.

Pitchers' pitches, not hitters' pitches.

So now, the Yankees and Phillies hitting a combined .227, the World Series moves to Philadelphia, where the tone could change dramatically in Game 3. Citizens Bank Park is a homer haven and plays small. The Phillies will move from former Cy Young winners Lee and Martinez and last year's World Series MVP, Cole Hamels, in Game 3 to Joe Blanton to start in Game 4.

But Teixeira, for one, isn't expecting much change.

"Not really," he says. "When you have pitching like we're throwing out there, you're just not going to score 10 runs a game."

Asked about his own swing, Teixeira said, "I'm not going to hit 1.000 this World Series. Nobody is going to hit 20 home runs.

"Every single at-bat is going to be a battle."

Yes, but is Teixeira's swing in a comfortable place right now and he's simply fending off tough pitches, or is he fighting his swing?

"How'd it look in my second at-bat yesterday?" he asked, grinning, referring to his home run.

It was one of the few smiles elicited by a hitter so far in a World Series delivering hitters far more tricks than treats. A word of warning to Hamels: Look out, that may be Damon behind that bush.