For the past six months, every time the Philadephia Phillies took the field you had this feeling that they would win. Even after watching St. Louis pull even at 2-2 in the series, and the bats going cold and the runs becoming more scarce and precious, the Phillies had home field advantage and perhaps the greatest advantage of them all on the mound on Friday night:  Roy Halladay.  Seven days later, that feeling has vanished.

And so have the Phillies.

Chris Carpenter delivered for the Cardinals.  The Phillies delivered a dud.  The Cardinals are heading to the NLCS after their thrilling 1-0 win in Game 5.  The Phillies are heading home and heading into what figures to be a long and painful winter.

Indeed, the fall down the mountain is a helluva lot easier than the climb up.  And with Friday night’s NLDS loss to St. Louis, I think it’s both safe and appropriate to say that the Phillies have fallen all the way down the mountain.  And make no mistake about it, over the past three years this loss, in this fashion, and under these circumstances takes the worst toll. 

Three years in a row the Phillies have lost their final game of the season.  Losing in 2009 World Series to the New York Yankees was tough to take.  After all, there’s no love lost between the two cities and it’s the Yankees who are maybe the most hated franchise in sports unless you want to count the Miami Heat.  It was an opportunity to win back-to-back titles and take down baseball’s most storied franchise at the same time.  It didn’t happen.  Last year’s loss in the NLCS to the San Francisco Giants was somewhat tougher.  The Phillies lost at home and had to watch the Giants dance around Citizens Bank Park while becoming the first team other than the Phillies since 2007 to represent the National League in the World Series.

But I’ll argue this loss probably trumps those previous two given the circumstances.  The Phillies went out and got the best free agent pitcher in Cliff Lee last winter.  They got the best trade deadline acquistion in Hunter Pence.  They won 102 games and their fifth straight NL East division title.  They had the best pitching rotation in baseball.  Instead of taking a step or steps forward, the Phillies have taken steps in reverse.  And this latest postseason loss just isn’t going to cut the mustard.

Sadly, it’s fitting how the Yankees and Phillies have managed to parallel each other over the past two nights.  Baseball’s two highest payrolls are now reduced to October spectators.  And isn’t it only fitting that each team’s two biggest boppers, Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard, have each committed the final out for their teams in each of the past two postseasons?  The Yankees had pitching problems.  The Phillies had hitting shortcomings.  In the end, it cost them.

There has been a  fierce hunger in Philadelphia since the Phillies brought home the city’s first World Series in 2008 since 1980.  They, not the Philadelphia Eagles, ended Philly’s title drought dating back to 1983 and in turn, became top billing.  They’ve been loved, admired and adored for ending the drought, which makes this very difficult to fully sink in.  Maybe six or seven years ago, just making the playoffs would have been acceptable or good enough.  But now, good enough isn’t good enough.  Now the Phillies are expected to not just make the playoffs or win the division; they’re expected to win the whole thing and be the last team standing with their fingerprints on the World Series trophy.

Good enough won’t do anymore.  Not with 220 straight sell outs.  Not with four legitimate Cy Young candidates.  Not with two former MVPs.  Perhaps as time passes, you’ll be able to look back on the 2011 season and remember it with a smile.  The way Roy Halladay continued his machine-like dominance.  A pair of Xbox-like months for Cliff Lee in which he went 5-0.  Chase Utley’s first game back or Hunter Pence’s first game after coming over from Houston.  Nothing can hurt or take away from the good times and the great moments.  Unfortunately, this Phillies’ loss did a  little of both.  It’s hard to imagine anyone will ever forget Halladay’s no hitter in the NLDS against Cincinnati a year ago.  It’s tough to imagine anyone will forget Philadelphia’s 102 wins and their ‘Phour Aces’.  But sadly now as the years pass and you tell your children or grandchildren stories of great moments, those stories much end with one final and hearbreaking sentence….’and the Phillies didn’t win the World Series’.

In sports, not matter how good you are or how many wins you accumulate or how much talent you stockpile, you’re only going to have a small window of opportunity to win championships.  I don’t think it’s completely out of line to wonder how much longer that window will be open for this current group.  Chase Utley’s body continues to take a pounding.  Jimmy Rollins is set to become a free agent and there’s a good chance he might not be wearing a Phillies uniform in 2012.  Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee will be another year older.  Like Rollins, Roy Oswalt could be playing somewhere else next season.  Ditto for Brad Lidge and Raul Ibanez. 

The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies had every reason to be something very special.  But instead of order championship memorabilia, we’re left to order an autopsy and wonder how something that felt so right on so many nights suddenly feels so very wrong.

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The Phillies return home from a successful road trip, going 5-2 highlighted by a four-game sweep in Cincinnati against the Reds for the first time since 1917 and for the first time in their 129 year history the Phillies were 42 games over .500

Obviously, the inevitable is right around the corner.  Sitting at 88-48, the Phillies need only to play sub .500 ball the rest of the way just to break the 100-mark.  If they were to finish out the month of September 12-14 they’ll get it.  Higher up on the absolutely likely scale is the clinching of the NL East.  The Phillies are 7.5 games ahead of the Braves for first place in the division with no signs of relinquishing that lead in the near future.  Only Milwaukee (44) and Detroit (38) have more wins than the Phillies’ 34 inside their division.   Philadelphia will face their NL East counterparts in 15 of their remaining 26 games left in the regular season.  Their last 10 games in September are all against the NL East.

Sitting 7.5 games up, there’s precious little time for Atlanta to have any chance of catching, let alone surpassing the Phillies.  The teams will play six more times this year beginning tonight with a three-game series in Philadelphia.  This could be the Braves’ last ditch effort to claim the division.  Anything short of taking two of three from the Phillies and they’ll no longer be clinging to any hopes of winning the division.   The task is difficult, but it may prove to be more daunting now than ever.  Atlanta is without two of their frontline starters, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson.

Waiting in the wings later this week is the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Brewers are 84-57 with best home record in the majors (50-19).  They’re 6.5 games behind the Phillies for the NL’s best record and top seed come playoff time.  Milwaukee is the only NL team to produce more post-All Star break wins than the Phillies.  The Brewers with both firepower on the mound and at the plate may present the only real threat standing in Philadelphia’s way en route to the World Series.

The Phillies are now scheduled to play 26 games over the next 24 days with doubleheaders scheduled against Florida (Sept. 15) and Washington (Sept.20).

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Beginning tonight, the Phillies have 42 games remaining on their regular season schedule before the real fun begins in October.  Of those 42 games, let’s take a quick look at how the schedule breaks down.

Home games:  19

Road games: 23

vs. NL East opponents:  25

Remaining Off-days:  Aug. 25th & Sept. 15

Opponents’ winning percentage: .502

Games against teams over .500:  17

Key Series:   vs. Atlanta, Sept 5-7;  vs. Milwaukee, Sept. 8-11; @ Atlanta, Sept. 26-28

Outlook:   The team with best record in the NL and the best record in all of baseball, it seems on the surface the Phillies don’t have much to play for down the final stretch of road during the regular season.  They could clinch the NL East and a playoff berth early on in September and 100 wins seems to be within reach.  Ditto for Roy Halladay reaching the 20-win mark.  Barring any catastrophic injuries or a costly, ill-timed non-hitting epidemic, the Phillies are a virtual playoff lock.  The toughest stretch appears to be in September.  In a span of 14 days they play host to Atlanta for three games, go to Milwauke for four and host St. Louis for three.  The key series to keep an eye on is against the Brewers from Sept. 8-11, which could potentially be a playoff preview, either in the division series or in the NLCS.  NL contenders San Francisco, Milwaukee, Arizona, St. Louis and Atlanta all have easier strength of schedules than the Phillies do to end the season, but it might not matter.

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The Diamondbacks are out to prove that first-place tag in the National League West is no joke.

Tonight, though, the Diamondbacks are faced with a tough challenge in the opener of a 10-game road trip with the first of three straight games against Roy Halladay and the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Arizona has won six in a row and owns a 2 1/2-game lead over the struggling San Francisco Giants in the NL West. It polished off a three-game sweep of the New York Mets at Chase Field with a 5-3 victory on Sunday, as Justin Upton homered and Paul Goldshmidt finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Henry Blanco added two hits and two runs batted in for Arizona, which completed a 10-game residency with a 7-3 mark and now heads east.

“It’s easy to say that this is going to be a big road trip,” D’Backs center fielder Chris Young said. “But I think every game throughout the rest of the season is a big game. … That’s what we live for, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Sunday’s game wasn’t fun for everyone. Diamondbacks new starter Jason Marquis sustained a fractured right fibula when he was hit by a comebacker off the bat of Angel Pagan in the third inning. Marquis was acquired from Washington before the trade deadline and is expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. Micah Owings, Zach Duke or a Minor League prospect could take his spot in the rotation.

Duke got the win on Sunday even though he gave up two runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief. Owings tossed a scoreless inning and David Hernandez notched his 11th save in the ninth inning. Arizona won seven in a row from May 24-30 this season.

The Diamondbacks, who will also visit Atlanta and Washington on the trip, hope rookie Josh Collmenter can resume his solid play when he takes the mound tonight. He is 3-2 in his last five starts and ended a two-game slide in Wednesday’s 6-3 victory over Houston. The righty held the struggling Astros to a pair of runs over seven innings with five K’s and one walk.

Collmenter is 7-7 with a 3.51 ERA in 23 games (16 starts) this season and tossed a scoreless inning of relief in an 8-4 loss versus Philadelphia on April 27 at Chase Field.

Philadelphia had an extra day of rest after its series finale with Washington was postponed Sunday due to heavy rain. The game will be made up as a doubleheader on Sept. 20 at Citizens Bank Park.

The National League East-leading Phillies have won 13 of their last 15 games and split a pair of matchups with the Nationals. After losing Friday’s series opener, 4-2, the Phils returned the favor with an 11-3 drubbing Saturday night behind seven strong innings from Roy Oswalt. Oswalt allowed three runs and six hits with five K’s and one walk, while Michael Stutes worked the final two frames.

“Any time you get a little bit of help (on offense), you’re able to be more aggressive,” said Oswalt. “I was able to get the first pitch over and make them start swinging early.”

Oswalt was referring to the help provided by Ryan Howard, who homered and drove in four runs. Raul Ibanez ended with two RBI and Jimmy Rollins scored three times for Philadelphia, which is a commanding 8 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the division and owns the best record in baseball at 78-41.

The Phillies are 21-8 versus teams from the NL West and will hand the ball to reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Halladay on Tuesday. Halladay is trying to become the NL’s first 16-game winner and is aiming to reach that mark for the sixth consecutive year. The right-hander has won four straight starts and pushed his record to 15-4 in 24 trips to the hill in last Monday’s 5-3 win at Dodger Stadium. He held Los Angeles to one run over 6 1/3 innings to lower his ERA to 2.51.

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The Astros have acquired outfielder Domingo Santana from the Phillies to complete the July 30 trade for outfielder Hunter Pence.

Houston had previously received outfielder Jonathan Singleton and pitchers Jarred Cosart and Josh Zeid in the deal. Singleton and Cosart had been considered the top prospects in the Phillies’ system.

The 19-year-old Santana, ranked as Philadelphia’s No. 9 prospect by Baseball America, was hitting .269 with seven homers in 96 games for Single-A Lakewood this season. He will be assigned to Houston’s Class-A affiliate in Lexington.

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Roy Oswalt pitched seven innings for his first win in more than two months, while Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer and drove in four and to lead the Phillies to an 11-3 victory over the Nationals on Saturday night.

Oswalt (5-7) gave up three runs and six hits, striking out five in his second start back since a lengthy stint on the disabled list with a back injury. It was his first win since June 12.

“Any time you get a little bit of help (on offense), you’re able to be more aggressive,” said Oswalt. “I was able to get the first pitch over and make them start swinging early.”

Michael Stutes followed him with two scoreless innings of relief for the Phillies, who bounced back from a loss in the opener of this three-game series on Friday to improve to 13-2 in their last 15 games.

John Lannan (8-8) returned to being ineffective against the Phillies, taking the loss after giving up seven runs — only one earned — on four hits and five walks in just three innings.

The left-hander had beaten the Phillies on June 1, his first win over the team in 14 previous tries.

Oswalt rebounded from a 3-1 loss to the Giants last Sunday, when he gave up 12 hits in six innings. Entering Saturday’s game, he was just 1-7 in his previous 10 outings since opening the season 3-0.

The 33-year-old righty threw 67 of his 96 pitches for strikes and faced the minimum in three of his seven innings. He gave up two runs in the second inning and one in the sixth.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Oswalt started off throwing almost exclusively fastballs before working in his changeup, breaking ball and slider.

“I thought he did very well,” said Manuel. “I thought after about two innings he really settled in and started commanding his pitches.”

“Overall, my fastball is coming back and I feel healthy,” said Oswalt. “Any time you get a win, it’s great.”

The Nationals failed in their attempt to beat the Phillies in four straight games for the first time since the franchise moved to Washington.

The Nationals won the first game of the series 4-2 on Friday, beating Cole Hamels behind a good start from Livan Hernandez, who also provided a pair of RBI singles.

But the Phillies broke this one open with a five-run third inning, sending 10 batters to the plate in a rally that made it 7-2.

There were plenty of highlight-worthy plays to go around, including two runs that scored when Oswalt beat a force play at second base that would have ended the inning.

“You can tell he was feeling much better,” Manuel said. “He proved that when he ran down to second base.”

The first four hitters all reached base in the third, and Howard knocked in Shane Victorino with a single through the right side. Hunter Pence walked to load the bases and the second run scored on Raul Ibanez’s ground out.

Lannan intentionally walked Carlos Ruiz to load the bases for Wilson Valdez, whose dribbler in front of the plate was fielded by Lannan on a diving play near the third base line. He scooped the ball into his glove and flipped it to catcher Wilson Ramos in one motion, getting the force out. But Lannan walked Oswalt for the second time to knock in another run.

The Phillies starter then hustled to second base on Jimmy Rollins’ deep grounder to shortstop Ian Desmond, beating the throw to extend the inning. Two runs scored on the play — Valdez followed Ruiz home when Nats second baseman Danny Espinosa fell down at the base and was too long getting back up.

“They score a lot of runs and you give them extra outs is asking a lot of the pitcher,” said Nationals manager Davey Johnson.

After Michael Morse hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to get the Nationals within 7-3, the Phillies scratched out a run in the bottom of the inning and then scored three more in the eighth on RBI singles from Pence and Ruiz and a sacrifice fly from Ibanez.

Earlier, Rollins reached on an error to lead off the first inning and Howard slapped a Lannan fastball the opposite way for his 26th homer of the season to make it 2-0. The ball just cleared the wall in left field.

The Nationals tied the game in the second inning when Morse led off with a double and came home on Laynce Nix’s two-base hit, and Nix later scored on Desmond’s single.

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The Phillies signed outfielder Jack Cust to a minor league contract on Friday.

Cust, who will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, was released by the Seattle Mariners on August 4 after batting .213 with three home runs and 23 RBI in 67 games this season.

The 32-year-old has been primarily a designated hitter in the major leagues.

For his career, Cust has hit .242 with 105 home runs and 323 RBI in 670 games with Arizona, Colorado, Baltimore, San Diego, Oakland and the Mariners.

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Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino has been suspended three games and fined by Major League Baseball for his role in last Friday night’s bench-clearing altercation in San Francisco.  Victorino’s suspension would have taken place starting today, but he has elected to appeal his suspension which also means he’ll be in uniiform tonight in Los Angeles when the Phillies begin a three-game series with the Dodgers.

Surprisingly, no Giants players have been suspended particularly reliever Ramon Ramirez and catcher Eli Whiteside.  Both players were fined undisclosed amounts, along with Phillies second baseman Placido Polanco.  The breaking point between both teams came in the sixth inning.  With the Phillies up 8-2, Jimmy Rollins stole second base, but strangely with Polanco at the plate at the time Rollins stole the bag, Polanco wasn’t thrown at.  Victorino, the next batter after Polanco, was drilled in the lower back by Ramirez  which didn’t sit too well.  Victorino began walking towards the mound to Ramirez and two began exchanging words.  At this time, Whiteside intervened and stepped in front of Victorino.  But, for many reasons unknown, Whiteside began jumping up and down then preceded to tackle Polanco who was rushing in from second base.

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