For the second straight year, there was a postseason celebration on the field at Citizens Bank Park. For the second straight year, the Phillies werent the ones rejoicing.
It was hard to imagine an uglier ending than what transpired last yearthe Giants reveling, the Phillies and fans reeling, the bat still resting on Ryan Howards left shoulder. The finality of it all was stunning and crushing. But what occurred on Saturday was worsea sort of sick reenactment of 2010, only with a gruesome new twist.
There was Howard, once more at the plate in the ninth inning, the bat in his hands, along with the teams fate and the citys hopes. There were two outs again. The scenario seemed too cruel to be real. My only thought at the time was that he couldnt leave the bat on his shoulder againthat he had to swing, for himself and his teammates and the fans. The idea of watching another pitch whiz by to end the season was too grim to contemplate.
Impossibly, that would have been the preferred scenario.
Howard took a hack this time. The ball dribbled off his bat and toward second base, where it was quickly swallowed up and tossed to Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols for the final out of the Phillies' season. (See story.) That was the insult. Then, a few feet down the first-base line, came the literal injury.
Howard had taken a few steps out of the batters box, only to crumple to the ground and grab the bottom of his left leg, near his ankle. He stayed that way for a whilecurled up, writhing in what appeared to be serious pain, while the Cardinals jumped and cheered and frolicked a short distance awayuntil he was eventually helped off the field by the medical staff and Shane Victorino.
Howard later limped into the clubhouse on crutches. He was still in his uniform. The tentative report was that he hurt his Achilles tendon, possibly that he tore it. He will have an MRI on Saturday.
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It was a horrifying scene that will make for an unfortunate and indelible memoryHoward down, and the season along with him. As symbolism goes, it was powerful stuff.
I feel very empty, Charlie Manuel said after the 1-0 loss. I feel like that weve had support from our fans, and its kind of hard.
There was a lot of that going around for the Philliesthe desperate grab for words that didnt come or werent quite right. Hunter Pence stood in front of his locker and struggled to express himself. Cameras and microphones were all around, and you could smell champagne that had soaked into the clothes of reporters who first visited the Cardinals' clubhouse. Earlier in the season, Pence said the experience of winning the NL East had been better than expected, and so someone asked him if this loss felt worse than anticipated.
Um he said, wrestling with words that would not come at first, I dont knowit doesnt feel goodIm definitely a little sick about it.
So, too, was Roy Halladay, who struggled with a 33-pitch first inning, but settled down thereafter, allowing just one earned run on six hits. It was a mostly-masterful performance, and he deserved some run support for it. He got none.
The hard part is, you think about all the hard work you put in over the course of the year, all the anticipation, the excitement, Halladay said. Then, all of a sudden it dissipates. Its hard to have it end like that.
They were the favoritesnot just to win the NL East or the NLDS, but the NLCS and the World Series, too. They had the four aces, and that was supposed to be plenty. The parade was mapped out before spring training began, but maybe the route wasnt properly planned after all.
There are many reasons why they failed in such unexpected and spectacular fashion. Pence had a .211 average in the playoffs and no extra-base knocks. Raul Ibanez hit .200. Placido Polanco .105. Carlos Ruiz .059. Victorino hit .316, but he had a ball carom off his glove in Game 2 (which resulted in a triple that eventually became the winning run), he fell down and allowed a run to score in Game 4, and he missed the cut-off throw in Game 5, which permitted Rafael Furcal to push a double into a lead-off triple. Furcal then scored the games only run.
Who else? Roy Oswalt threw one gameand lost. Cliff Lee blew a four-run lead in the only game he startedand lost. Chase Utley hit well, but he picked a bad spot to be overly aggressive on the base paths in Game 4, and he got caught stealing (on a 73 mph curveball) late in Game 5. And, of course, there was Howard. He started the series with a three-run homer in Game 1, then ended the NLDS on an 0-for-15 slide.
The fifth straight NL East title. The franchise record 102 wins. The milestone Manuel achieved by overtaking Gene Mauch for the most victories by a manager in club history. All of that will fade now, lost in the shadow of another postseason that ended prematurely and without ceremony.
For the foreseeable future, the rank disappointment will be accompanied by difficult questions: Will Oswalt return? Will Rollins? Will Ryan Madson? Will they pay Cole Hamels? What will become of Ibanez and Polanco? And what about Howard? If it is an Achilles injury, whats the recovery time and how might that affect his career? Even with the starting pitching, can this club put together another run to the World Series?
As you watched Howard and the season collapse, you had to wonder: did we witness the end? And what happened to that silly old ant?
E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com.