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By Paul Sokoloski psokoloski@timesleader.com
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NEW YORK – At long last, Ryan Howard finally cut loose with a towering drive that landed just beyond the left field wall for his first home run of the World Series.

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The Phillies Ryan Howard reacts after striking out during the eighth inning of World Series Game 6 against the New York Yankees Wednesday in New York.

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That two-run shot represented the final runs for the Phillies and proved to be a perfect portrayal of their New York nightmare.

Too little, too late.

Chase Utley matched Reggie Jackson’s 1977 record of five World Series home runs, but the rest of the Phillies couldn’t match Utley’s production.

Philadelphia’s offensive juggernaut was limited to 29 runs in six games – after scoring a combined 70 over nine games in the first two playoff rounds.

“We kind of sputtered a little bit,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

And Howard was the poster boy for their struggles.

The cleanup man for the Phillies was taken to the cleaners by Yankee pitching, after Howard entered the World Series on a tear and fresh off tying a playoff record with an RBI in eight consecutive games against the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers. But Howard was held to one homer, three RBI and a paltry .174 batting average during the World Series.

He also set a World Series record by striking out 13 times – including his final trip to the plate in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 7-3 loss that clinched the world championship for the Yankees in six games.

“That’s baseball,” Howard said with a shrug. “Sometimes you’re hot, sometimes you’re not. Sometimes you’ve got it, sometimes, it’s not there.”

Their bats picked the worst time to fall silent on the Phillies, who won the 2008 world championship and missed a chance to become the first National League team to win back-to-back world championships since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds and the first team in baseball to achieve that feat since the Yankees won three straight titles from 1998 through 2000.

“You don’t look at it as a failure,” Howard said. “We had a great season. We just got beat by a better team. Obviously, you want to be on the other side (of the celebration). We were there last year. I feel cool. The only thing you can do now is go home and relax and come back in spring training.”

When the Phillies do get together again, they’ll be gunning to reclaim their crown.

“We have a great group of guys, we never quit,” Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton said. “We were on the winning end last year. Being on the sour end of it hopefully will give us more (incentive) for next year.”

That’s what the Phillies are counting on.

“That just makes us more determined to come back again next year,” Manuel said. “I’ll tell you something, we will be back. And hopefully we play the Yankees again.”

New York’s not betting against it.

“I would love to congratulate the Phillies,” Yankee manager Joe Girardi said. “They’re an extremely tough opponent. It’s a great ball club with a lot of heart.”