Phils Hold All the Cards

St. Louis enjoyed a 16-5 run to end the regular season and incredibly sneak into the playoffs on the final day. Saturday, the Phils brought the NL Wild Card Cards back to earth, reminding the baseball world with their 5th-straight win and 103rd of the season that the road to the World Series travels through Philadelphia.

Surprisingly and importantly, it was the offense that keyed the win. The Phils offense was missing for much of the year and was the team's biggest question mark entering the postseason.

It was one game, but there was a lot to build on, as the #1-6 hitters Rollins, Utley, Pence, Howard, Victorino and Ibanez, each came up huge.

Unexpectedly, Roy Halladay allowed a 3-run HR in the 1st to Lance Berkman, putting his team in a hole, something he has rarely done since joining the Phils before the '10 season.

"I couldn't think of a worse start and putting your team in a hole like that," Halladay said. "But you get to this point, you're not going to pack it in."

He proceeded to retire 21 batters in a row and never yielded another run in the contest.

"That's why he's the best in the game," the Cardinals' Albert Pujols said. "We wanted to keep adding on it, but we just never put that inning together again."

"You have to beat those guys 3-to-whatever," Berkman said. "He's not going to give up much more than that. He's a great pitcher."

"He was kind of like a 'Rocky' movie," manager Charlie Manuel said of Halladay. "He got mad after he gave up that homer. That ticked him off, and he hung in there and he got going. But he's special. He's everything people talk about."

The Phillies were down 3-1 in the 6th when Ryan Howard hit a 423 foot 3-run HR to right to put the Phils up, 4-3, a lead they would keep. Ibanez also homered in the inning, a 2-run shot that put the Phils up 6-4 and chased former Phil Kyle Lohse from the game.

Lohse had retired the 1st 10 until Utley doubled off him in the 4th. Utley was 3-5 overall and scored 3 times, seemingly regaining his postseason stride after a year rife with injury and career-low production.

Howard, who had been the goat in the last 2 playoff series losses since the '08 title, in '09 vs. the Yankees and in '10 against S.F., sent a message of his own with the go-ahead 6th inning HR.

"I left last year in the past," Howard said. "You can't let what happened last year affect this year. It's a fresh start."

It was a feel-good night all-around for the Phils' offense, who compiled 14 hits and 11 runs, 10 of them earned.

The 46,480 raucous and adoring fans felt pretty good, too. It was the 218th-straight sellout at Citizens Bank Park.

notes:

Pence was 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs in his first postseason game.

The Cardinals didn't have five-time All-Star, LF Matt Holliday because of a hand injury.

Next up, game 2:

Sunday, 8:37 pm EST

St. Louis - Chris Carpenter (11-9, 3.45 ERA)
@
Phils - Cliff Lee (17-8, 2.40 ERA)