Eight for 45 with runners in scoring position was all you had to know about this series. So it was probably fitting that the game ended with two men on and Ryan Howard, who actually went .303/.395/.424 yet did not have an RBI in the series, caught looking. With that the Giants won the game 3-2 and the series 4-2. It was an unlucky third that changed the game, with plays just missed or made ill-advisedly. That inning, so unlike the Phillies, was yet so frustratingly typical of the way they played this post-season. As has been famously said by many, post-season is a crap shoot.
The offensive inconsistency reared its head, as it had all year, in the NLDS. Still, it was an amazing year in many ways. At mid-season I was sure they had been derailed by all of the injuries (Rollins, Utley, Howard, Polanco, Ruiz, Victorino, Lidge, Romero, Moyer, Happ, Blanton, for starts), but they blazed their way past the competition to finish with the best record in baseball. But Red October is now over and done. Thanks a lot, Phillies, for a most memorable year! Here's to 2011.
The San Francisco Giants, meanwhile, move on from a gut-wrenching series to face Cliff Lee and a Texas Rangers team that rolled over the Yankees. Should be interesting. One of the teams will win its first ever World Series.
