Chris Carpenter threw a complete game shutout, and the Cardinals beat the Phillies 1-0, to send the five time defending eastern division champions home in a shocking first round exit.
Carpenter was dominant for his nine innings, allowing the Phillies just three hits and not walking a hitter while striking out three. He only threw 110 pitches, 70 of which were for strikes. The only real scoring opportunity that Philadelphia had was in the fourth, when they put men on the corners with two outs. Raul Ibanez ended that threat with a fly out. Shane Victorino had a pair of hits for the Phillies, while the other one they got came off the bat of Chase Utley, who had a fantastic series.
The Cardinals got the sole run of the game in the first inning. Rafael Furcal led the game off against Roy Halladay with a triple, and he was doubled in by Skip Schumaker. Take out those two batters, and Halladay was dominant. He went eight innings, allowed just the one run on six hits and an intentional walk, and struck out seven. The Cy Young contender was really damn good tonight. The problem was, Carpenter was just better.
In a down note, Ryan Howard seemingly injured his knee on the final play of the game. There’s no immediate word on his condition, but he had to be helped off the field and couldn’t run down to first. Considering that his five year, $125 million contract goes into effect next season, the Phillies and their fans have to hope that the injury isn’t serious.
This season feels like a failure to the Phillies and their fans, and honestly? It should. Despite the team record for wins in a single season, and Charlie Manuel becoming the winningest manager in franchise history, they didn’t reach their ultimate goal: the World Championship. We’ll have more on that in the coming days, though. For now though, the Cardinals are advancing to the NLCS to play the Brewers in an all NL Central matchup. The first game will be Sunday, in Milwaukee.
