Striking Out in the World Series is Trendy
Hot Bats in the 2009 ALCS and NLCS Are Ice Cold in the Fall Classic
Oct 31, 2009
For all those on Twitter, "Striking Out" may not be a trending topic in your tweets, but in the baseball world, it seems to be the trend for the 2009 World Series.
The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are both big offensive powerhouses. They both attacked the scoreboards in their 2009 League Championship Series' but it seems that they may have lost their hitting pizzazz somewhere between their League Championship parties and game one of the fall classic.
In the ALCS, the New York Yankees scored 33 runs over six games; an average of five runs per game. The Philadelphia Phillies stomped all over home plate against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2009 NLCS. They scored 35 runs in five games; an average of seven runs per game. However, in the first two games of this year's World Series, the Phillies have only plated seven runs, and the Yankees scoring four.
So where are the runs?
The reason for the lack of run production in the 2009 World Series seems to be due to the slumping play of both team's big stars.
For the Phillies, Ryan Howard and Jason Werth had the hottest bats coming into the World Series, but have failed to deliver a spark for their team.
Jason Werth has been productive to some degree against the Yankees, but hasn't been as effective as he should be. Two hits over two games is not going to suffice if he and the Phillies want to hang in there against the Yankees.
Ryan Howard's 2009 World Series (Through Two Games)
The 2009 NLCS MVP destroyed Dodgers' pitchers over five games, but has struggled at the plate in the fall classic. Yankees' pitchers have dominated the big first baseman, striking him out six times, and only giving up two hits with no RBIs during his nine at bats over two games.
In Howard's first two games of the NLCS, he had three hits over six at bats with one homerun, a double and only one strikeout. If the Phillies want to win against this experienced Yankees team, Howard needs to wake up at the plate and get his hitting swagger back. A lack of production from the NLCS MVP could hurt Philadelphia's chances of winning back-to-back World Series titles.
Batting woes are not just for the defending World Series Champions. Alex Rodriguez had stellar performances in the first two playoff series', but it seems that the A-Rod of playoff past has returned. But not all the blame can be put on A-Rod. First baseman Mark Teixeira has been down-right awful in the post-season, and is not as effective as he was in the regular season.
Teixeira has only nine hits in 46 plate appearances in the 2009 playoffs, and is one for seven in the World Series with three strikeouts. If Teixeira's dismal playoff campaign continues down this path, the Yankees fans may have found themselves a new goat.
Alex Rodriguez's 2009 World Series (Through Two Games)
Just like Ryan Howard of the Phillies, A-Rod's bat has been silenced by the opposition's pitchers. Rodriguez's amazing 2009 ALDS and ALCS had many believing he got over his post-season struggles, but it seems that's not entirely true.
A-Rod was hitting over .400 in the American League playoff series', but, since coming to the World Series he is 0 for 8, with six strikeouts over two games.
It appears that the pressure may have got to A-Rod. Has the baseball world given him too much credit?
Obviously the outstanding pitching from the Phillies and Yankees has taken the spotlight in this year's World Series.
Yankees and Phillies Pitching Dominating Batters
Over the course of two games both teams combined have struckout 40 batters, and allowed only 29 hits and 10 runs scored. That averages just under two hits and two strikeouts an inning.
It's safe to say that the 2009 World Series is going to come down to who has the better pitching staff.
Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez have already pitched for the Phillies, and CC Sabathia and A.J Burnett for the Yankees, so maybe with those core four out of the way, these struggling batters may have a better time with the rest of the rotations. But, then again, maybe striking out and low scoring games are the "It" thing of the 2009 World Series.
