Phillies' season comes to a stunning end

MILWAUKEE -- Roy Halladay began this season sitting on a dais in Clearwater, surrounded by the Phillies' own Dream Team, a glittering rotation that everyone figured would deliver the Commissioner's Trophy to Broad Street.

But when the end arrived Friday night for Halladay, a few weeks premature, the two-time Cy Young Award winner was alone, slumped in a chair, staring into his locker as if the answers somehow were tucked into the back pocket of his jeans.

Halladay accepted a trade out of Toronto two years ago because he wanted a World Series ring. Cliff Lee spurned the Yankees last winter to join Halladay's title pursuit in Philadelphia. The two, along with Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt, were supposed to be as close to a lock as you can get in baseball.

But by beating them in a best-of-five Division Series, the Cardinals proved that even a stack of Cy Youngs doesn't necessarily get a team past the first round of the playoffs. "Honestly, I don't care where you go," Halladay said, "there's no team that's guaranteed to win anything."

Halladay was tagged with the Game 5 loss, but he hardly was at fault for the Phillies' epic failure. There was plenty of blame to go around, whether it was Ryan Howard's vanishing act after the Game 1 blowout or Lee's inexplicable meltdown in Game 2, when he couldn't hold an early 4-0 lead and folded amid the Cardinals' 12-hit attack.

"Each of us is looking back to think what we could have done to prevent this or do something differently," Lee said. "And for me, it's pretty obvious.

"That's why you play the games. Once you get to the postseason, the regular season is out the window. Obviously, we had higher expectations and expected to do much better than this."

The Phillies, just as most had predicted, made the regular season look easy. Their $172-million payroll was second only to the Yankees' $202-million investment, but it looked like money well spent as the Phillies reeled off a franchise-record 102 wins and cruised to their fifth straight NL East title.

Losing to the eventual champion Giants in the 2010 NLCS was tough to swallow, but that was nothing compared to what the Phillies experienced Friday. "I think this one might hurt more," manager Charlie Manuel said. "This is the most pitching that I ever had depth-wise, and we're definitely capable of winning . . . Right now, I've got some anger. I've got some -- I don't know. I just feel very empty."

Once Manuel starts to look ahead to 2012, he might feel some anxiety. Former MVP shortstop Jimmy Rollins, slugging leftfielder Raul Ibañez and closer Ryan Madson are free agents. Oswalt and Brad Lidge both have options, but their returns are iffy.

The midseason trade for Hunter Pence was supposed to inject a spark into an aging lineup, but he didn't make enough of a difference. Chase Utley's knee problems aren't going away and the Phillies were dealt a stunning blow on the final out of Game 5 when Howard collapsed a few steps from home plate on his ground ball to second.

Howard was sprawled out and in obvious pain as the Cardinals celebrated a few feet away, He suffered a torn left Achilles tendon, and a good chunk of his 2012 season already is in jeopardy. Who knows what the long-term effect will be on his standing as one of the game's premier sluggers?

The Phillies lost more than a game and a series Friday night. Their aura of invincibility is gone, too.

"Obviously, we wanted to win the World Series," Halladay said. "That was the goal for us and it will continue to be. This is something that won't sit well for us this winter."