The Cardinals—talented, resilient, and looking kissed by destiny—danced in triumph on the infield grass.
A few feet away, a wounded Ryan Howard flopped on the first-base line and writhed in pain after his Achilles’ tendon ruptured like the Phillies’ dream as he made the final out of the game.
In his postgame news conference, a shaken Charlie Manuel searched for the right words, only to finally speak for an entire organization, an entire team, and an entire city.
“I feel very empty right now,” he said.
As Manuel spoke, Roy Halladay was down the corridor in the clubhouse. He sat alone, in uniform, and stared frozenly into his locker for 25 minutes after the last out.
For an hour after the game ended, players showered, dressed, and spoke to reporters about their unfulfilled season.
“I’m shocked that we lost,” said Brad Lidge, lingering in front of his locker.
Shane Victorino was one of the last players in the room. After dressing in the clubhouse for the final time in 2011, he rummaged through some belongings in his locker. He reached in and pulled out a sheet of World Series tickets marked for games in Philadelphia. He looked at them wistfully, and then slowly tore them into pieces and dropped them into the trash bin as he headed for the door.
Victorino did not speak to reporters.
He didn’t have to.
Thirty-four years earlier, to the day, the Phillies suffered their infamous Black Friday loss to the Dodgers in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS. For a whole new generation of Phillies fans and a whole new group of players, this was the new Black Friday. Even a major-league-best 102 wins would not soothe this wound. So much more was expected from these Phillies.
Disappointing year or disappointing ending?
“Disappointing year,” Cliff Lee said. “We had higher expectations than this. It’s not over until it’s over and for us, it’s over now.”
Never had a loss hurt the Phillies in so many ways. Another year had ticked off the biological clock of the team’s nucleus. A number of key players would become free agents. And from a financial standpoint, the early playoff exit cost the franchise millions of dollars in revenues.
For the second season in a row, the Phillies bowed out of the playoffs with their bats turning feeble. They scored 21 runs in five games against the Cardinals, but 11 came in the first game of the series. The Phils scored just 10 runs over the final four games and pushed runs across the plate in just three of their final 34 innings. As a team, they hit just .226 in the series. Howard was 2 for 19 and hitless in his last 15 at-bats. Placido Polanco was also 2 for 19. Carlos Ruiz was 1 for 17. The Cardinals did not tear the cover off the ball; they hit .259 for the series and were actually outscored, 21 to 19. They were there for the taking, but the Phillies never took them.
The Phillies ran out of gas.
They began to sputter in the final weeks of the season when they struggled to score runs. But through the offensive drought, the starting pitching was always there. That changed in Game 2 of the NLDS when Lee, the man whose December arrival fueled World Series hysteria, couldn’t protect a lead at home.
“I take a lot of responsibility for this,” Lee said after the Game 5 loss. “I had a 4-0 lead and wasn’t able to keep it. If I did, we would have swept the series.”
Regret also filled Cole Hamels’ voice.
“You only get to play this game for so long,” he said. “So it’s kind of tough to see it slide through your fingertips.”
Roy Oswalt moved on quickly. The contents of his locker were already packed and ready to go by the time reporters entered the clubhouse 20 minutes after the last out. Oswalt had the most difficult season of any of the team’s Big Four starters and at times seemed as if his thoughts were elsewhere. On the night it all ended, he looked like a guy who was either double-parked on South Broad Street or couldn’t wait to get home. Oswalt was the first one to exit the funereal clubhouse, leaving while many of his teammates were still in uniform coping with the loss.
Disappointed and drained, Halladay lingered in front of his locker and seemed to replay the loss over and over in his mind. He finally took off his uniform, threw on some gym shorts, and met with reporters in the middle of the clubhouse. He had pushed for a trade to Philadelphia because he thought it was the place his World Series dreams would come true. After two seasons and 40 regular-season wins, he was still looking for that ring.
“We came up short,” he said. “Obviously winning the World Series was the ultimate goal for us, so this is tough.
“The hard part is you think about all the work you put in over the year, you think about the game today and how big it was going to be, and then all of a sudden that just kind of dissipates. It’s hard to have it end like this. You always want to finish happy. It’s hard to finish the season losing.”
And so, nearly eight months after it began on a warm and sunny morning in Clearwater, it all ended on a cool and dark night in Philadelphia.
The 2011 Phillies headed home for the longest winter of their lives.
EPILOGUE
Four days after the season ended, the Game 5 line score remained hauntingly frozen on the Citizens Bank Park scoreboard:
In the basement of the ballpark, Ruben Amaro Jr. sat in the same room he had welcomed Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee to the club in the previous two off-seasons. This news conference wasn’t nearly as pleasant. Like the city’s sports fans, the general manager was still smarting from his team’s quick exit. His displeasure with the team’s offense was as clear as the goose egg on the scoreboard and he challenged Manager Charlie Manuel and Hitting Coach Greg Gross to rectify the situation in 2012.
“We don’t have the same offensive team we had in 2008,” Amaro said. “We don’t have nearly as much power. We need to realize that and work with what we have. We need to make adjustments, work counts better, have better two-strike at-bats. We should have more .300 hitters, or close to it. We really should.
“There’s no question in my mind this is a championship-caliber lineup. We just have to go about it in a different way. What we’ve done is not working. It’s not worked well enough to get to the World Series and win.”
As if the pain of early elimination wasn’t enough, a number of players, including Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels, quickly had surgical procedures to fix injuries.
Meanwhile in St. Louis, the Cardinals, kissed by destiny, continued their late-season romp. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series and won the World Series in a tense, seven-game battle with the Texas Rangers. It was a difficult series for Phillies fans to watch. One called Mike Missanelli’s radio show on FM 97.5 The Fanatic and equated the experience to watching his wife appear in an adult film. “You don’t want to watch, but you do because you want to believe the other guy isn’t as good as you,” the caller said.
Game 6 of the World Series was a classic, with the Cardinals coming from behind five times to win, 10-9, in 11 innings, and send the series to a seventh game. The Cards were down to their last strike in the ninth and 10th innings. David Freese twice delivered big hits—a game-tying triple in the ninth inning and a game-winning homer in the 11th—on his way to winning MVP honors. Freese and Howard were three years apart at Lafayette High School in suburban St. Louis. During his time in college, Freese became frustrated with the game and Howard was one of the people who helped talk him out of quitting. All these years later, Freese helped slay Howard’s favored Phillies and went on to win World Series MVP honors.
And, of course, that Chris Carpenter fellow got the win in Game 7.
While the Phillies were two weeks into hunting and fishing season, the Cardinals rolled through the streets of St. Louis in a victory parade.
The next day,Tony La Russa retired after 33 years as a big-league skipper and three World Series titles.
At 67, La Russa went out on top.
Gradually, the sting of defeat eased on the executive level of Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies declined 201
2 contract options on Roy Oswalt and Brad Lidge, making them free agents. Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Madson, and Raul Ibanez also became free agents, maybe to return, maybe to move on.
Before the leaves were completely off the trees, Amaro and his lieutenants completely turned their attention to the season ahead and signed free agent Jim Thome, the man whose arrival nine years earlier had signaled a baseball rebirth in Philadelphia.
All those years later, Thome was still looking for that elusive World Series ring, which gave him a kinship with Halladay and Lee.
Maybe 2012 would bring them what they were looking for.
INDEX
Agostinelli, Sal
Alexander, Grover Cleveland
All-Star break
Amaro, Ruben, Jr.
Amaro, Ruben, Sr.
American League Rookie of the Year
Andersen, Larry
Andersen, Mark
Anthopoulos, Alex
Arbuckle, Mike
Arizona Diamondbacks
Ash, Gord
Ashby, Andy
Atlanta Braves
Aumont, Phillippe
Avery, Steve
Axford, John
Baez, Danys
Bagwell, Jeff
Baines, Harold
Baker, Geoff
Baltimore Orioles
Bamford, Gord
Barajas, Rod
Barger, Carl
Barkann, Michael
Barney, Darwin
Bastardo, Antonio
Bautista, Jose
Beane, Billy
Beckett, Josh
Bedard, Erik
Belcher, Tim
Bell, David
Beltran, Carlos
Berkman, Lance
Berowski, Freddy
Bielecki, Mike
Big John
Billmeyer, Mick
Black, Bud
Blalock, Hank
Blalock, Sam
Blanton, Joe
Bochy, Bruce
Bonds, Barry
Bonifay, Cam
Bonilla, Bobby
Boras, Scott
Borris, Jeff
Boskie, Shawn
Boston Red Sox
Bottenfield, Kent
Bourn, Michael
Bowa, Larry
Bowden, Jim
Bowers, Sean
Bowker, John
Braun, Ryan
Braunecker, Darek
brawls
Brazer, John
Brogan, Jim
Brooklyn Dodgers
Brown, David
Brown, Domonic
Brown, Kevin
Browning, Tom
Bruce, Jay
bullpen
Bumgarner, Madison
Burnett, A. J.
Burrell, Pat
Bush, Guy
Cain, Matt
Cairo, Miguel
Caminiti, Ken
Camiscioli, Kevin
Campbell, Bus
Carapazza, Vic
Cardenas, Adrian
Carpenter, Chris
Carrasco, Carlos
Cashman, Brian
Casterioto, Greg
Castillo, Frank
Castillo, Luis
Castro, Fabio
Castro, Starlin
Charles, Jamaal
Chen, Bruce
Chesney, Kenny
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Ciccotti, Matt
Ciccotti, Michael
Cincinnati Reds
Clark, Bonnie
Clark, Dave
Clark, Tony
Clarke, Bobby
Clemens, Roger
Cleveland Indians
Collinson, Rick
Colorado Rockies
Conine, Jeff
Conner, Darrell
Contreras, Jose
Coppenbarger, Frank
Cormier, Rheal
Correa, Heitor
Cosart, Jarred
Costas, Bob
Coste, Chris
Coughlin, Chris
Craig, Allen
Crawford, Carl
Cuddyer, Michael
Cueller, Mike
Cy Young Award
Daal, Omar
Dalton, Harry
Damon, Johnny
Daniels, Charlie
Daniels, Jon
Davis, Ben
Davis, Joey
De Fratus, Justin
De La Rosa, Rubby
Detroit Tigers
Dobbs, Greg
Dobson, Pat
Donald, Jason
Dorfman, Harvey
Doughty, Larry
Drabek, Doug
Drabek, Kyle
Drew, J. D.
Drysdale, Don
Dubee, Rich
Duckworth, Brandon
Dunn, Jay
Dupont, Kenny
Durbin, Chad
Durbin, J. D.
Dykstra, Lenny
Eaton, Adam
Eckersley, Dennis
Edwards, Herm
Egins, Paul
Ennis, John
Erskine, Carl
Erstad, Darin
Espinosa, Danny
False Spring (Jordan)
fantasy football
Feller, Bob
Fielder, Prince
Figgins, Chone
Figueroa, Nelson
Finley, Steve
Florida Marlins
Floyd, Gavin
Forst, David
Foster, Arian
Francis, Jeff
Francisco, Ben
Francoeur, Jeff
Francona, Alyssa
Francona, Terry
Franzke, Scott
Freamon, Lester
Freeman, Freddie
Freese, David
Fregosi, Jim
Fresh, Benny
Fronek, Jan
Fronek, Jeff
Furcal, Rafael
Furtak, Mark
Gallardo,Yovani
Galvis, Freddy
Garber, Bob
Garcia, Freddy
Garcia, Mike
Gayton, Bill
Giambi, Jason
Gibson, Bob
Giles, Bill
Gillick, Pat
Gillies, Tyson
Glavine, Tom
Gload, Ross
Goldschmidt, Paul
Gonzalez, Adrian
Gonzalez, Alex
Gooden, Dwight
Gordon, Brian
Gose,Anthony
Graves, Danny
Green, Dallas
Greenberg, Chuck
Greene, Khalil
Gregg, Kevin
Greinke, Zack
Gross, Greg
Guccione, Chris
Hairston, Jerry, Jr.
Hairston, Scott
Hall, Robbie
Halladay, Roy
Hamels, Cole
Hampton, Mike
Hansen, Cameron
Happ, J. A.
Harkey, Mike
Hart, John
Heard, Scott
Heintzelman, Ken
Helms, Wes
Hernandez, Angel
Hernandez, Felix
Hernandez, Jose
Hernandez, Livan
Herndon, David
Hershiser, Orel
Hewes, Tim
Heyman, Jon
Higginson, Bobby
Hinske, Eric
Hoffman, Trevor
Holiday, Rob
Holliday, Matt
Houston Astros
Howard, Ryan
Hunter, Jim “Catfish,”
Ibanez, Raul
Iooss, Walter
Iwamura, Akinori
Iwamura, Kobayashi
Jackson, Edwin
Jackson, Steven
James, Bill
Jeter, Derek
Johnson, Andre
Johnson, Calvin
Johns
on, Dan
Johnson, Davey
Johnson, Josh
Johnson, Randy
Johnson, Walter
Jones, Chipper
Jones-Drew, Maurice
Jordan, Michael
Jordan, Pat
Jurrjens, Jair
Kalas, Harry
Kansas City Royals
Kazmir, Scott
Ke$ha
Kendrick, Kyle
Kennedy, Ian
Keough, Matt
Kerfeld, Charley
Kerrigan, Joe
Kershaw, Clayton
Killebrew, Harmon
Kimbrel, Craig
Klobedanz, Fred
Knapp, Jason
Kobayashi, Takeru
Koufax, Sandy
Kratz, Erik
Kruk, John
La Russa, Tony
LaMar, Chuck
Landry, Greg
Lannan, John
Lawrence, Ryan
Lee, Cliff
Lee, Kristen
Lee, Travis
Lemon, Bob
Lewis, Allan
Lewis, Michael
Lewis, Ted
Leyland, Jim
Lidge, Brad
Lidle, Cory
Lieberthal, Mike
Liebrandt, Charlie
Lien, Dong
Lima, Jose
Lincecum, Tim
Loewen, Adam
Lohse, Kyle
Longoria, Evan
Looper, Benny
Lopes, Davey
Lopez, Jose
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Lowell, Mike
Lyon, Brandon
Mackanin, Pete
Maddux, Greg
Madison, Keith
Madson, Ryan
Maduro, Calvin
Maglie, Sal
Manuel, Charlie
Marcum, Shaun
Marquis, Jason
Marshall, Mike
Marson, Lou
Martinez, Buck
Martinez, Michael
Martinez, Pedro
Matthews, Gary
Matthews, Sarge
Mauch, Gene
Mayberry, John, Jr.
Mazzone, Leo
McCoy, LeSean
McDonald, Darnell
McDowell, Sam
McGriff, Fred
McKeon, Jack
McKinley, Alvin
McKinley, Dennis
McLane, Drayton
McLouth, Nate
McNally, Dave
Meals, Jerry
Mental ABCs of Pitching, The (Dorfman)
The Rotation Page 30