102 Wins Came At a Price (NLDS 5)
October 9, 2011
After the Phillies lost the final game in Saint Louis on Wednesday for the series to be sent back to the Bank, it was up to Roy “Doc” Halladay to save the Phillies season to send them to the Championship Series for the 4th straight season. Roy Halladay pitched 8 strong innings, but a lengthy 1st inning proved to be the difference in the game. After getting lit up in the Bank in his 3 innings on Sunday, Chris Carpenter rebounded and repeated his feat from last Wednesday against the Astros to push the Cards into the playoffs. With the Yankees getting knocked out of their Division Series as well, New Jersey (minus Mets fans), FOX, and TBS are hanging their heads as a result. Remember, the Cardinals were the only NL team to win a season series from the Phillies this year.
In the 1st inning, Rafael Furcal led off with a triple then scored on Skip Schumaker’s double for the first and only run of the game. Schumaker battled with Halladay and made him throw 10 pitches in the at bat. After Albert Pujols grounded out which got Schumaker out at third on an outstanding play by Chase Utley, Lance Berkman reached on a catchers interference. Halladay got out of the inning by getting Matt Holliday to pop out and Yadier Molina to ground out to end a long 32 pitch inning for Halladay. Halladay scattered 4 singles in the next 7 innings and faced the minimum in 4 of those 7 frames. Doc ran into some trouble in the 8th inning when Chris Carpenter led off with a single then Furcal reached on a Carlos Ruiz throwing error. After Jon Jay moved them over to scoring position with a sac bunt, Halladay intentionally walked Pujols to load the bases. Halladay punched out Berkman for a huge second out then Holliday flew out to end the inning.
After Chris Carpenter had a rough outing last Sunday, he rebounded and pitched a shutout. In the 2nd inning, Shane Victorino doubled with 1 out, but Raul Ibanez popped out then Placido Polanco grounded out to end the frame. Carpenter hit Utley with a pitch to start off the 4th then Hunter Pence beat out a double play to reach first. After Ryan Howard lined out, Victorino singled Pence to third. Raul Ibanez almost hit a 3 run home run to right field, but the park held it in and it resulted in a fly out. Utley singled with 1 out in the 6th inning, but was caught stealing second base for the second out. The next inning, Carpenter threw 3 balls to Howard for a 3-0 count, but he hit the next pitch to Berkman in right field when he should have taken a pitch. With 2 outs in the 8th, the Cards gave the Phillies a chance to score when pinch hitter Ross Gload struck out, but Molina could not hold on and his throw was wide for Gload to reach first. Jimmy Rollins flew out to end the inning. Utley hit the first pitch in the next frame and it was almost out, but Jay tracked it down on the warning track for the first out. 1 out later, Howard grounded out on a 2-2 and was limping in pain to end the game and the Phillies season.
Ryan Howard underwent an MRI after his injury and it showed a ruptured left Achilles tendon. He cannot have surgery until the swelling goes down and he might miss Spring Training or the first third of next season. John Mayberry will probably take his place at first base next year. Placido Polanco and Hunter Pence will have MRIs to find out more about their sports hernias and Polanco will probably have surgery. Cole Hamels will have loose bodies removed from his left elbow on Friday. In addition, he also has an inguinal hernia and he will have surgery on that the following week after his elbow surgery.
This is the third time the Phillies played a winner-take-all game in a playoff series. With the loss to the Cardinals, the Phillies are now 1-2. Their only other such games were the 1980 NLCS to the Houston Astros (series win) and the 1981 NLCS to the Montreal Expos (series loss).
New Jersey Turnpike Symmetry: After each side of the Turnpike won a World Series in 2008 and 2009, the Yankees and Phillies had chances to rematch in the WS each year, but got knocked out in the same respective round. Last season, the Phillies swept the Cincinnati Reds, while the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins (who also took away the possibility of another team of winning a WS title in a new stadium and the first in back to back years). After that, the Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers in 6 games while the Phillies lost to the San Francisco Giants in 6. Not only that, but both the Rangers and Giants franchises were both on the East Coast at one point (Rangers used to be the Washington Senators while the Giants were in New York). Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard made final outs for their respective teams in their last games and they both struck out looking. This year, the Tigers knocked out the Yankees in 5 games in the ALCS, while the Phillies could not hold off the Cardinals in 5 games. Both games were decided by 1 run and once again, A-Rod and the Big Man made final outs. Now if the Eagles lose to a one man wrecking crew of the Bills (a la Kenny Britt of the Titans last year), I’m going to scream! (Odd how the Eagles play an AFC team after the Phils get eliminated again.)
Caught: 1-2 (3)
Missed: 1-1 (2)<-
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