04/23/24
October 08, 2011
Phillies Knocked Out of Playoffs by Cards: A first-inning run was all St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter needed to best Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies in game 5. The Cards' 1-0 victory sends them to the National League Championship Series and knocks out one of the best starting rotations in decades. The 1-0 clincher was only the third in postseason history. The last was the 1991 World Series game 7 where Jack Morris outdueled John Smoltz. Making things worse for the Phillies, Ryan Howard injured his Achilles tendon running out the play's final out and doctors suspect it was torn.
I feel bad for Howard that it ended that way.
However, it would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if the ball had squeaked its way to the outfield. Would Howard had enough time to hop/crawl down the line to avoid being put out by the throw from the outfield? Probably not.
That said, the fact that he got back up and tried twice to walk/hobble on the torn tendon is admirable enough.
posted by grum@work at 10:28 AM on October 08, 2011
It proved something many pitchers at all levels should learn -- you don't have to take a lot of time between pitches to be effective. The opposite, in fact, is generally true, but you couldn't prove it by most major leaguers.
Also, I would have sworn Utley was safe at second, but the replay showed the umpire to be right. That was a great call and a great throw.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:01 AM on October 08, 2011
Woo boy. Great game. I heard mentioned on the telecast last night that this was the third time former Cy Young award winners have faced off in a winner-take-all elimination game. I was at one of the other two, which was Zito v. Pedro in Game 5 of the 2003 ALDS in Oakland. (Pedro v. Clemens in G7 of the ALCS that same year was the other one.)
Really happy about the Furcal acquisition as a Cards fan. After years of watching David Eckstein shotput the ball over and various other spaghetti-armed shortstops, nice to have someone with a cannon (and also with some range). An incredibly improbably run by the Cardinals (obviously), but the team in its current form is fairly different than the team that fell into such a big hole in the NL Central and Wild Card as a result of the Rasmus trade (which I think is clearly playing out to be a short-term good trade for the Cards) and other pick-ups.
posted by holden at 12:54 PM on October 08, 2011
Great to see the top two payrolls in baseball out of the playoffs.
posted by insomnyuk at 03:43 PM on October 08, 2011
That was an impressive display of pitching on both sides. Halladay in the top of the 8th with the bases loaded takes down Berkman and Holliday to preserve the 1 run deficit - that was pressure pitching at it's best. Carpenter looked so good all game that I was shocked at the end to see he only had three Ks. The Phillies didn't have a chance it seemed. Great game.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 05:03 PM on October 08, 2011
Great to see the top two payrolls in baseball out of the playoffs.
Top nine, actually.
Bored during the rain delay... Go Rangers.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:22 PM on October 08, 2011
The Phillies tie that game up without incredible infield play by the Cards in the late innings.