01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, October 14, 2004

NEW YORK -- They led the league in runs scored, slugging percentage, extra-base hits, doubles and, perhaps most important, patience.

But you wouldn't know it from watching the Red Sox through the first two games of the American League Championship Series.

Too eager, overanxious and non-selective best describes their approach. It's one thing to fail to get a baserunner through the first six innings against Mike Mussina. It's something else to manage just one hit in six innings against Jon Lieber.

"We didn't have much patience, like we normally do," said hitting coach Ron Jackson after the Red Sox dropped Game 2, 3-1. "I think the guys wanted to do a little too much, instead of letting the game come to them."

Maybe the Red Sox were pressing after the Game 1 loss. Maybe they were trying too hard to provide Pedro Martinez with some run support. Maybe they were too intent on getting a split in the first two games here.

Whatever the approach, it didn't work. The Sox managed all of five hits last night, three of them singles.

They didn't get a lot of chances, and with the few that were presented, they failed: Boston was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Over the first two games, 14 of their 15 hits have come after the seventh inning. In Game 1, the uprising was too late. Last night, it was too little.

"You don't ever want to tip your cap to somebody," said Terry Francona. "But they've pitched very effectively. And when they've made mistakes, we have not made them pay for it. We haven't had a whole lot of opportunities to do that."

The trouble starts at the top. The team's two table-setters -- leadoff man Johnny Damon and No. 2 hitter Mark Bellhorn -- are a combined 1-for-16. They're not providing much in the way of opportunities for the lineup's producers, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

"I've got to get my game up," said Damon. "I'm 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. They know a good way to hurt our team is to stop me. It starts with me; I'll take full responsibility for those two games. I'm very disappointed in my first two games. I need to break out to give us a chance."

Give Damon credit for trying. In the sixth inning, he pieced together a 16-pitch at-bat before lining out to center. The at-bat resulted in an out, but at least Damon made Lieber work.

That's more than can be said for many of his teammates, most of whom saw their at-bat ends quickly. In seven-plus innings, Lieber threw just 81 pitches, or an average of just over 10 pitches per inning.

"I was thinking that if I get on base (in that marathon) at-bat, that we were going to have a big inning," Damon recounted. "He was getting away with a lot of two- and three-pitch at-bats. That was our big chance."

Take away Damon's at-bat and Lieber recorded his 20 other outs on 56 pitches, an astounding ratio.

"The guy's around the plate a lot," marveled Jackson. "And even when he's (behind) 3-and-1, 2-and-0, he's not going to give you anything over the middle. He's not going to give in."

The Red Sox' best hope now is that the change of scenery will boost their production. They hit 40 points higher at Fenway Park than they did on the road and scored 85 more runs over the course of the season, or slightly more than one run per game higher than their average road input.

For all the talk about Curt Schilling's unavailability and Pedro Martinez' struggles against the Yankees, the cold hard facts are these: the most fearsome offensive team in the league has been a paper tiger in the first two games of this series.

After scoring at least seven runs in each of the games in the ALDS sweep of the Angels, the Red Sox have been held scoreless in 15 of the 18 innings to date in the ALCS.

Sure, the pitching has been spotty. But absolutely no one figured that offense would ail the Sox in this series.

"We're in a hole, no question," said Damon. "But even idiots know how to get out of holes."