The Rotation

by Jim Salisbury

  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)