MLB Playoffs: Talk of a Dynasty Ends with Phillies’ Big Postseason Phizzle

Ryan Howard limped out of the batter’s box towards first base in a desperate attempt to try and extend Philadelphia’s 102-win season. But it was hopeless. As the star first basemen lay on the ground in a heap, the little white towels had finally stopped waving and the Phillies’ hope of another World Series title vanished as quickly as the squirrel that infiltrated their ballpark three hours earlier.

For the second consecutive year, the Phillies’ season hung in the balance with Howard at the plate—the last time out it was against the bearded-one, Brian Wilson, in the 2010 NLCS. On this night it was against the Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, who was seeking redemption for his less-than-stellar performance in Game 2.

The notoriously raucous Philadelphia fans shouted louder than they had when their Eagles were on the cusp of a Super Bowl. Thirty-three times they had seen their slugger deposit one into the stands, some 400 feet from home plate. One more was all they needed to play Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” on the speakers, and to send the game into extra innings.

Oh the stories that would have followed. I mean think of it: The most brutal fans in history against the craziest human being to ever set foot on the baseball diamond—none other than Tony Plush.

Instead, we get a rematch of the 1982 ‘Suds series, minus Paul Molitor, Charlie Moore and the rest of Harvey’s Wallbangers that fell to Whitey Herzog’s band of thieves.

Fans deserved better.

But it wasn’t the fans that deserve the blame. No, instead you can put that on the Phillies front office, who decided after losing last year’s NLCS that it was their starting pitching that needed upgrading.

They passed on re-signing one of their best hitters, Jayson Werth (though in retrospect is a decision that isn’t looking too terrible), and instead opted to spend $115 million to acquire the services of prize free agent Cliff Lee. The Phillies had hoped that rookie Domonic Brown could fill in for some of the production lost by Werth’s departure, only to discover that Brown’s greatest potential was to be a slightly better baseball player than Raul Ibanez.

I got news for you, that’s not Raul’s name they’re chanting whenever he’s up at the plate.

It was a familiar ending for Charlie’s Manuel’s yappy little bunch, who have gotten better every year in terms of their overall record but have made quicker exits in the postseason.

They won 92 games in 2008 and defeated the Rays to win the World Series. In 2009 they won 93 games and lost the Fall Classic to a superior Yankees team. Last season they won 97 games and lost in the NLCS to the eventual World Champions, the San Francisco Giants. This year they won 102 games and were ousted in the first round by the Cardinals, a team they helped get to the playoffs by sweeping the Braves in the final series of the season.

The main problem was again on offense. Though Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee were hardly clutch, the Phillies only hit .226 for the series with a.269 on-base percentage. Hitting stalwarts like Howard, Utley, Victorino, Rollins and Ibanez (all of whom are now in their 30s) looked completely baffled against Cardinals pitching and only managed to get one runner past second base in Game 5 against Carpenter.

You’ll often hear the phrase that pitching wins ball games. It’s an overused yet semi-accurate proverb that fails to put things in total perspective.

Everyone assumed the reason why the Giants won the World Series last year was because of their pitching. But their free-swinging band of miscreants were clearly better than the Braves and the Phillies, two teams that had plenty of arms at their disposal but couldn’t do anything against The Freak and his fellow compatriots (Bumgarner, Cain and Sanchez).

In the World Series, the Giants easily dispatched the Rangers who had a good offense but featured a starting rotation that relied too much on Lee and a bullpen that caused Texas fans to sweat and vomit in the middle innings of every game.

Complete teams persevere in the playoffs. A team that can’t score runs doesn’t have a better chance of winning than a team that can’t stop opposing hitters from hitting baseballs and lighting up the scoreboard.

Sure the the Patriots’ offense plays a lot sexier now than it did in 2004; but most fans in New England would likely prefer the teams that came in the era before Spygate. Those teams won on the strength of their defense and a quarterback who made all the right plays.

The Phillies are looking more and more like the Bobby Cox-led Atlanta Braves teams of the 1990s that captured 15 consecutive NL East Division titles and five NL Pennants, but only won only one World Series title. The tragic flaw of those teams that had Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and David Justice, was that they dominated the game for six innings and then turned it over to their bullpen. That’s usually when the fun started. Occasionally Cox would try sneaking Mark Wohlers into the game early, a mistake which often produced hilarious results.

The Phillies won 102 games this year, so it’s not as if they haven’t had an impressive season. But given their decaying hitters and the gulf in their bullpen, there wasn’t much for the Cardinals to worry about outside of the guy on the pitcher’s mound. Once that first run crossed the plate in the top of the first, the series was over.

Usually a five-game series usually favors the team with the better starting pitching, so that gives you a clue about how much the Phillies lacked in depth and why they should consider trading Lee or Halladay in for a Pujols or a Fielder.

But if they want to stick with spending money on pitchers maybe they could trade for Barry Zito.

Call me when that happens, because I’m all for it.

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