NEW YORK - At times like these, great and historic and pivotal times for the Philadelphia National League Baseball Club, it is always wise to try to remember the acronym WWWS: What Would Whitey Say?

And you can be sure, somewhere, that Rich Ashburn is about to turn to the man sitting next to him and say, "Harry, it's time to get the married men off the field."

As the Phillies and Yankees careen toward Game 6 of the World Series, their pitching staffs are somewhere between stretched and splintered. The carnage is about to begin. It has been building toward this, hurtling toward the day when these two powerful, pugnacious offenses would gain the unequivocal advantage. Now, that time is upon us. This very well could be the 10-9 game.

"I think that we're starting to score more runs," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, who has predicted all along that this was going to be a slugging World Series.

"The offense is starting to pick up, actually on both teams, the way we've been starting to hit the ball. I think these next two games will really get interesting."

For the first time this postseason, Pedro Martinez will be pitching for the Phillies on 4 days' rest rather than three or four times that amount - and you naturally wonder how his 38-year-old arm will respond. For the first time since 2006, Andy Pettitte will be pitching for the Yankees on 3 days' rest, with all of the attendant concerns for a 37-year-old who doesn't throw very hard anymore, who is so reliant upon precision.

Behind them are bullpens that are frayed beyond reason - except for Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Chan Ho Park has probably done the best for the Phillies, Damaso Marte the best for the Yankees, and pretty much everybody else on both teams, to varying degrees, falls into the question-mark category.

Through five games of the World Series, the Phillies' bullpen earned run average is 5.40 and the Yankees' - minus Rivera - is 6.17. (With Rivera, it is 4.70.) These numbers are not likely to improve. Relief pitchers are some of the game's really good soldiers, but the bullpens on both teams appear to have reached their limits. Just watching Phillies closer-of-the-day Ryan Madson so painfully wriggle his way out of the ninth inning in Game 5 tells you exactly where this thing stands, really for both teams.

The realistic goal now is damage control, nothing more. This World Series now seems destined to be decided by a bludgeoning.

"We need Andy to go out and pitch well and hopefully our offense continues how we finished the game last night," Yankees leftfielder Johnny Damon said, referring to Game 5, when the Yankees scored three runs in the eighth inning and one run in the ninth, with a couple of stray baserunners besides.

Damon is hitting .381 in the series, having repeatedly lashed Phillies pitching with a wet noodle. And Game 5 - Phillies 8, Yankees 6; starting off with Chase Utley's three-run homer in the first inning - was just the hors d'oeuvre. You could tell in Damon's eyes yesterday in the Yankees' clubhouse, when asked if he sensed an impending offensive explosion, that he was searching for a diplomatic way to agree. This is what he came up with:

"I'm not sure," he said. "I think our pitchers have done a great job of limiting damage on home runs until last night - that was the first home run with runners on base for them . . . Last night, we definitely had our chances. All in all, I think our pitching has done a pretty good job of limiting the damage."

And, well, sure.

For the Yankees, the bridge to Rivera is teetering. For the Phillies, the bridge is just as unsteady - but you wonder if it is a bridge to nowhere, given how Brad Lidge struggled in Game 4 and how Madson barely survived in Game 5.

As it is, the teams' per-game average is about five runs apiece in the series. But both have left plenty of work undone. The Phillies should have pummeled an admittedly uncomfortable Pettitte in Game 3, but didn't. The Yankees looked like they had a chance to crush Madson at the end of Game 5, but didn't. The Phillies let Sabathia get away in the fifth inning of Game 4. And on and on and on.

Nobody is letting anybody get away anymore. The hitters have caught up. Martinez obviously has confidence in his ability, as does Pettitte, but they are honest observers of the game, too. Pettitte said, matter of factly, "I've got my hands full with their lineup." And, well, listen to Pedro. He was talking about watching Game 5, watching the Yankees try to claw back in the late innings from an 8-2 deficit. He was talking about how the Phillies never give up and then he said:

"And it wasn't just our team. Their team did the same thing. That team never went away. We had a big lead and it just didn't feel like it was safe at any point. And those are the games that you pay to watch."

Which bring us to tonight, when no lead will be safe again - not unless it is with Rivera at the very end. It is the Yankees' main advantage and it remains intact. At this point, that is the only thing close to a certainty when it comes to pitching on either side.

Meanwhile, somewhere, Whitey has just announced that he feels like looking for a bat.

Send e-mail to hofmanr@phillynews.com, or read his blog, The Idle Rich, at http://go.philly.com/theidlerich.

For recent columns go to http://go.philly.com/hofmann.