Halladay gets no run support in a 1-0 loss

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PHILADELPHIA -- There had been so much hope and excitement in February, when the Phillies assembled their rotation for the ages in a once-in-a-lifetime news conference at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.

The 2011 team could have been the greatest in franchise history.

But a once-promising season ended in crushing disappointment Friday night when the Phillies lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park, 1-0. The ending was a startling contrast to those joyous moments in Spring Training: Ryan Howard collapsing to the ground as he made the final out of the season, likely tearing his left Achilles tendon; and Roy Halladay, sitting at his locker for more than 20 minutes after the game before slowly removing his uniform for the final time.

Heartbreak. Disappointment. How could this have happened?

"The hard part is you think about all the hard work you put in over the course of the year, all the anticipation, all the excitement," Halladay said. "You have two days leading up to the game today, knowing how big the game is going to be. All of a sudden that kind of dissipates. It's tough. It's hard to have it end like that. You always want to finish happy."

The Phillies -- who finished the regular season with a franchise-record 102 wins and the best record in baseball -- not only failed to win the World Series, they failed to advance past the first round of the postseason for the first time since 2007.

Halladay deserved better. He allowed six hits, one run, one walk and struck out seven in eight innings. He pitched brilliantly.

The Cardinals scored their only run in the first inning. Halladay allowed a leadoff triple to Rafael Furcal, which has been Halladay's glaring statistical anomaly this season. Leadoff hitters in the first inning hit .484 (16-for-33) with one walk against him. Furcal might have caught a break on the play when center fielder Shane Victorino appeared to miss the cutoff man. If Victorino had hit his mark, Furcal might have been thrown out at third base, although manager Charlie Manuel was not convinced it was possible.