Cards Comeback, Clock Cliff, Tie Series 1-1

The prized Phils rotation was supposed to be invincible. There was no way for the Cardinals to penetrate it. Instead, the National League Division Series would hinge on whether the Phils on-again, off-again offense would show up for the postseason.

Instead, Roy Halladay faltered to start game 1 and Cliff Lee followed suit in game 2, leaving the offense to attempt to bail out both star starters to salvage wins for the lauded pitching team.

Lee was everything he was this regular season wrapped up into 1 game. He struck out an improbable number of hitters (9) and had stretches of perfect location, yet he surrendered 12 hits and 5 runs in his 6 innings of work.

To start the 2nd inning, St. Louis's Molina and Theriot were caught looking, as Cliff Lee did a terrific job of mixing in 2-strike fastballs in the strike zone, when he would typically bounce a curveball in front and out of the zone.

However, devastatingly, he squandered the 4-0 lead his team staked him to, which was a disappointment by any measure.

"I wasn't able to make my pitches, so I take full responsibility," Lee said.

Unfortunately, Lee had picked up in the '11 postseason where he left off in the '10 World Series, where he went 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA vs. the World Series Champion Giants. Lee is now 0-3 with a 7.13 ERA in his last 3 playoff starts.

Brad Lidge relieved Lee in the 7th, with 2 on, no outs and a run already in. Lidge coolly threw 2 pitches to get 3 outs, like it was 2008.

The Cardinals' Chris Carpenter, a 13-year veteran who led the NL in '11 with 238 innings pitched, started on 3 days rest for the 1st time in his life. Carpenter, a former Cy Young Award winner ('05), finished the season very strong (3-0, 2.15 September), but clearly was not himself on short rest.

41 year-old former Phillie Arthur Rhodes, 19 years in the majors, came in to pitch to 1 batter, Ryan Howard. Rhodes promptly struck Howard out on 3 pitches, making 66 year-old manager Tony La Russa look 1) not so old, in comparison and 2) like a strategical genius (except that the premature use of Carpenter nearly cost him the game).

The Cardinal bullpen was the untouchable pitching star that out-shined the Phils' rotation in game 2. The Cards' bullpen mesmerized the Phils, as 6 relievers combined to allow just a single hit in 6 immaculate innings of work.

Pujlos had been 0-11 vs. Madson, but in the 9th got a broken bat single off him to lead it off. However, Madson, who posted 17 shutout appearances to end the regular season, S.O. 2 of the next 3 to set-up the Phils' final chance in the bottom of the 9th.

However, Jason Motte (4.73 September ERA) pitched a 1-2-3 9th to shut the door on the Phils' offense, which was too little, too early to get the win.

"We've been doing this all year. We don't give up," Motte said. "People counted us out, (but) we kind of went out there and just kept playing hard."

The 46,575 person Citizens Bank crowd was the venue's largest, ever.

Next up:

Tuesday, October 4th, 5:07 PM EST:

Philadelphia: Hamels (14-9, 2.79 ERA) Hamels is 2-3 with a 3.27 ERA in 9 starts vs. St. Louis.
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St. Louis: Garcia (13-7, 3.56 ERA) Garcia is 2-1 with a 1.20 ERA in 6 games (4 starts) vs. the Phils. The lefty has held Philadelphia to a .178 batting average.