Chris Carpenter bested Roy Halladay with a masterful three hit shutout as the Phillies once magical season ends in bitter fashion. Halladay gave up a first inning run and matched Carpenter from there on out, but it wasn’t enough as the Phillies bats went silent once again. Ryan Howard grounded on the final playing, ending a miserable series for him mired in an 0-14 slump. Howard actually fell down injured before he could even reach first base and had to be helped off the field.
The worst part of the night was that the Phillies never really threatened. Carpenter mowed through the lineup with relative ease needing only 110 pitches to get through nine innings. The aforementioned Howard looked lost, Carlos Ruiz continued his slump, Hunter Pence capped a disappointing series with an 0-fer and Placido Polanco is so injured that he was basically a free out every time he came up. You certainly have to question the judgment of Charlie Manuel in playing him. No doubt he brings a plus glove, but almost anyone would have represented a greater threat at the plate as the sports hernia simply robbed him of all ability to hit the ball with power.
The only two guys that really did show up tonight were of course Roy Halladay who threw 8 innings of one run ball striking out 7 and Shane Victorino, who went 2-3 and hit .316 for the series.
Howard and Polanco both hit .105 in the series. Pence hit .211, Raul Ibanez .200 and Carlos Ruiz .059.
After setting a franchise record with 102 wins, the Phillies are one and done. On one hand, that is the dangerous nature of a five game series in baseball. I don’t think many people would say that the Cardinals are a better team than the Phillies, but you don’t have to be in a short series. They got key hits and of course got an amazing start from their ace in the deciding game. That said, after such a great season, being one and done has to been seen as a massive disappointment.
Now this Phillies team that the city has really come to know and love could look very different. Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Madson, Raul Ibanez and Roy Oswalt are all scheduled to be free agents. Ryan Howard will certainly have major questions asked of him given the way he ended his season and the fact he is just starting a $125 million contract.
CSNPhilly’s Ruben Frank tweeted out a stat that seems apropos to end with. Over the last 17 innings of this postseason, the Phillies managed just one run and seven hits.