ARLINGTON, Texas — Nelson Cruz, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton got plenty of hits to put their teams into the World Series.

Now that they’re here, the big-bopping trio has become a virtual zero. A combined 1-for-19, held to a mere single by Cruz.

The rest of the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers haven’t done much better while splitting the first two games.

So far, a total of just eight runs. The last time there were fewer through the opening two games at a Series? Try 1950, when Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees combined with Philadelphia for four.

“A lot of people thought this was going to be an offensive World Series,” Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus observed before Friday’s workout.

Blame the slump on a few factors: raw weather at Busch Stadium, good pitching and, perhaps most significantly, hitters facing arms they’ve never seen before.

Both teams have flailed away at the plate, chasing sliders and curves that bounced, shattering bats and seeming to guess wrong on what pitches were coming next.

“We need to give good at-bats and get deeper and quit swinging at balls out of the strike zone,” Mike Napoli said.

Napoli has hit the lone home run of the Series. He connected off Chris Carpenter, but maybe he had an edge — Napoli had been 3 for 3 lifetime against the Cardinals ace going into Game 1.

The hitting woes are a repeat for the Rangers. They batted .190 last season when they lost the World Series in five games to San Francisco.