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One other thing about Podsednik and Pierre. Given that either would be a part-time player who would play (hopefully) far more often against righties than lefties, the answer as to who would be the better match for the Phillies seems to have a lot to do with what the lefties do against right-handed pitching.

For their careers, their numbers are similar. Pierre has a 293/339/369 line against right-handed pitching while Podsednik is at 283/344/391. Pierre has hit for the slightly higher average, but Podsednik has offered more power and walked more. Against righties, Podsednik has walked in about 8.1% of his plate appearances while Pierre has walked about 5.7% of the time. Podsednik’s isolated power of .108 is considerably better than Pierre’s .076 against righties.

Pierre was absolutely terrible against righties in 2011, hitting just 264/296/325 against them over 536 plate appearances. A .296 on-base percentage with no power isn’t really what you’re looking for a left-handed corner outfielder against right-handed pitching. Pierre hit just .264 and walked in just 4.1% of his plate appearances against righties. Advantage Podsednik, there, who didn’t appear in the majors in 2011. In 2010, though, he hit them hard, putting up a 300/349/406 line against them over 445 plate appearances. 2009 he was good, too — 297/352/429 over 426 plate appearances.

The Phils played twice yesterday in split-squad action, beating the Braves and playing to a tie against the Rays.

The Phils beat the Braves 6-4.

Blanton started the game, allowing three runs over five innings. He allowed a solo home run to Matt Diaz in the second and a pair of runs on three singles in the third. That’s the first time Blanton has been charged with a run in official Spring Training action. In three starts he’s now thrown to a 2.70 ERA with a 1.10 ratio over ten innings in three starts. Herndon was next, facing four batters, retiring three and allowing a two-out homer to Uggla, upping his ERA to 1.69. Willis and Bastardo followed with scoreless innings. Qualls allowed a single and struck out two in a scoreless ninth.

Nice to see Willis put up a zero. He walked the first man he faced on four pitches, but got a fly ball and double-play behind that. Got his ERA down to 16.88. Bastardo has allowed one hit and no walks in four scoreless frames.

Rollins, Polanco and Thome (DH), all went 2-for-4 in the game for the Phils. Mayberry continued his hot hitting, going 1-for-3 with a double and a walk and getting his average up to .226. He’s 2-for-5 with two doubles and two walks over the last two days after a slow start. Podsednik had two more hits, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI and upping his average to .333. He leads the team with four doubles.

The Phillies lost a late lead in the other game, allowing two runs in the last two innings as they tied the Rays 6-6.

Piniero started that one and allowed a run on two hits and a walk over two innings. He’s got a 4.50 ERA and a 1.50 ratio through three appearances. Purcey followed that with two scoreless frames, dropping his ERA to 1.80 in five innings. Elarton gave up three runs in the fifth on a double, two singles and a walk before coming back to throw a scoreless sixth. Coming off an awful outing, Horst allowed two hits in a scoreless inning in the seventh to drop his ERA to 6.75. Schwimer started the bottom of the eighth with a 6-4 lead, but allowed a run in the eighth and another in the ninth that allowed the Rays to tie the game at 6-6. Jordan Whatcott, probably not coming soon to a theater near you, took over for Schwimer with two outs in the ninth and a man on second and got a ground out to end the ninth.

Elarton came into the game having allowed just one run on one hit over six innings, but has now allowed four earned runs over eight innings (4.50 ERA).

Pierre played center field and hit leadoff, going 2-for-4 and driving in two runs. Frandsen went 0-for-3 at short and dropped his average to .174. Montanez went 1-for-3 in right and is now hitting .450 (9-for-20). Pete Orr was 2-for-4 with a double and is at .280.

The Phils play the Pirates this afternoon with Cliff Lee expected to pitch.

Halladay does not sound worried about his Spring Training results to this point. I’m not either. Halladay has thrown to a 10.57 ERA so far, but has also struck out ten in 7 2/3 innings.

Contreras threw a scoreless innings in a minor league game, allowing a single and getting three ground outs.

In this article, Manuel says there’s “a good chance” Utley will play April 5 against Pittsburgh. The article also suggests that Manuel thinks that Galvis can play second base in the majors. Let’s hope he doesn’t start against Pittsburgh on April 5. Galvis has a .639 OPS in 30 at-bats this Spring Training. In 2011, Wilson Valdez put up a .634 OPS for the Phils over 300 plate appearances.

Laynce Nix was scratched yesterday because of sore left ribs that continue to be thought of as not serious no matter how many times he’s scratched. Brown was scratched due to a stiff neck.

In the past several posts I have pointed out that the Phillies starting pitchers, and Halladay, Hamels and Lee in particular, were exceptional at preventing walks in 2011.

As you know, their exceptionalness made for some nice walk numbers for the Phillie starting pitchers last year. In 2011, Phillie starting pitchers faced more batters than any other National League team. They also walked fewer batters than any NL team.

After the Phillies, the Cardinals were the team whose starting pitchers faced the next highest number of hitters. They faced 266 fewer hitters than the starting pitchers for the Phillies. The Nats were the team whose starters threw the second-fewest number of walks — they walked 45 more than the Phils.

The average NL team saw their starters walk about 7.5% of the batters they faced. Phillies started walked about 5.1% of them. By percentage of batters faced that walked, the Diamondbacks were the second-best rotation at preventing walks — Arizona started faced 104 fewer batters in 2011 and walked 55 more.

The Astros hammered the Phillies 10-3 yesterday, dropping the Phils to 2-3 in Spring Training.

Worley started for the Phils and allowed two runs in two innings on five hits and a walk. Pat Misch was next. He threw a scoreless third before allowing four runs in the fourth, three of which were unearned because of a two-out throwing error by Frandsen at third. Papelbon allowed a triple and a walk in the fifth, but kept the Astros off the board. Willis was next and he got hit hard for his second time in two tries, charged with four runs on three hits and two walks while getting just two outs. Rosenberg, Qualls and Stutes finished it out, combining to throw 3 1/3 shutout innings.

Nice to see Qualls and Stutes both put up some zeroes after each were hit hard in their first official Spring Training appearance.

Willis says he’s sore and tired in this article. Rich Dubee also says the Phils won’t carry two left-handed relievers for the sake of having more than one lefty in the pen. In two outings so far, Willis has allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings on five hits and three walks (that’s a 27.00 ERA and a 4.80 ratio — opponents have hit .500 against him).

The Phillies had five hits in the game. Podsednik doubled in his only at-bat of the day, his third double already, and is 4-for-8 so far. Lou Montanez was 1-for-2 with a double. Hector Luna homered yet again — 3-for-7 with a double and a home run in official action with another homer in unofficial action against FSU.

Frandsen started at third and went 0-for-4 with an error. 1-for-12 with nightmareish defense so far. Nix is still looking for his first hit — he’s 0-for-9 after going 0-for-3 yesterday.

The Phillies play the Pirates this afternoon with Hamels and Bush expected to pitch.

Harold Garcia, he of the 40-man roster, had surgery on his right knee and will miss four to six months.

Thome will play first base in a minor league game on Monday. The same article says that Laynce Nix had “been bothered with a sore muscle near his left groin.”

Remember this from about a year ago? In 2010, Phillies pitchers overall combined to walk 416 batters for the year. That was the fewest number of walks issued by an NL team since the 1995 Mets walked 401.

We can now add 2011 to the list and again the Phillies have walked the fewest hitters of any NL team. Here’s the NL team that has issued the fewest walks overall since 1995 (the last time any NL team walked fewer hitters than the Phillies did in 2010 or 2011):

I have mixed feelings about the Phils cutting down their walk rate even further, cause if they knock or four more walks in 2012 I’m probably going to have to look more stuff up.

It was pretty much a three-man show for the Phils in terms of preventing walks in 2011. As I mentioned in a recent post, Halladay, Lee and Hamels all pitched a ton of innings and excelled at preventing walks. Here’s a look at the walks per nine innings rate for Halladay, Lee and Hamels as a group compared to the rest of the team for 2011:

So that trio walked less than half the hitters per nine innings that the rest of the team did. They also threw a tremendous number of innings, 46.2% of the total innings thrown by the team.

Hamels had the worst walk rate of the group of Halladay, Lee and Hamels at 1.83 walks per nine. No pitcher on the team in 2011 when threw at least 45 innings had a walk rate under two — Blanton threw 41 1/3 innings with a walk rate of 1.96 per nine frames and Joe Savery and Wilson Valdez combined not to walk a hitter over 3 1/3 innings. Among the guys who had at least 50 innings pitched in 2011, Oswalt was the pitcher other than the big three with the best walk rate — he allowed 2.14 walks per nine.

The Phils beat the Yankees 9-3 yesterday and are 1-2 in official action so far in Spring Training.

Blanton got the start and allowed two singles in two scoreless innings. Scott Elarton followed Blanton and went two frames as well, setting down all six men he faced. Austin Hyatt was charged with two runs over two innings. Brian Sanches pitched the seventh and was charged with a run on four singles before Herndon went two scoreless frames.

Domonic Brown continued his reign of butchery in the outfield, misplaying then diving at and missing a ball hit by Brett Gardner in the sixth inning that was called a triple. Kevin Frandsen threw the relay away on the same play for an error, allowing Gardner to score.

Still real early, but Brown has already looked terrible in the outfield.

Martinez hit a two-run homer for the Phils in his only at-bat. Rollins was 2-for-2 and stole two bases. Hector Luna was 1-for-2 with a three-run double, which comes after a home run in the game against Florida State. He seems like a tough guy for the Phillies to carry if he can’t play short. Polanco started at third and went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

The Phils play the Blue Jays this afternoon. Cliff Lee and Kyle Kendrick are expected to pitch.

Charlie Manuel suggests it’s going to be a while before Utley plays in this article.

Cole Hamels made 31 starts last year in which he threw 213 innings, or 6.87 innings per start. Rotation-mates Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee each went more than seven innings a start — 7.30 innings per start for Halladay and 7.27 for Lee.

So, should we be worried that Hamels isn’t going as deep into games? Not so much.

First of all, Halladay and Lee are workhorses who were at the top of the innings pitched list in the NL in 2011. Halladay was second in the NL in innings pitched with 233 2/3 and Lee was fourth with 232 2/3. Hamels himself was tied for ninth with 216 innings.

The other issue is that Hamels is a whole lot younger than either Halladay or Lee.

Table below shows, for Halladay, Lee, Hamels and Oswalt, the number of starts each of the four pitchers got by age and the average number of innings they threw per start that year:

Or, for those of you who prefer your data harder to understand, here’s a picture (points are plotted for years in which each of the pitchers started at least ten games):

During his age 27 season, Hamels went about 6.87 innings per start. That mark is higher than Halladay (6.33 over 21 starts at age 27) or Lee (6.08 over 33). It’s about the same but a little worse than Oswalt. In 2005, Oswalt made 35 starts for the Astros in which he threw 241 2/3 innings, which is about 6.91 innings per start.

I do want to acknowledge that the squiggly line graph is nearly incomprehensible. One thing I think it does illustrate, though, is that after their age 27 seasons, the innings pitched per start numbers for Halladay and Lee generally went up. Oswalt was a different story. He topped out in innings per start during his age 27 season and has been generally downwards since then.

The other thing is that Hamels has made a lot more starts through his age 27 season than the rest of the group has. Having just completed his age 27 season, he has 180 career starts. Through their age 27 seasons, Oswalt led the group of Halladay, Lee and Oswalt with 145. In terms of innings pitched per start through age 27, Hamels has thrown more innings per start than Lee, but a little bit less than Halladay or Oswalt.

The biggest point for the day, though, is that Hamels doesn’t have any problem with not throwing enough innings per start. He does throw fewer innings per start than Halladay or Lee, but so does pretty much everyone else in the world. In 2010, for example, Lee made 13 starts with the Mariners in which he threw 103 2/3 innings, which is a silly 7.97 innings per outing.

Phils beat Florida State 6-1 yesterday. Pete Orr made a couple of defensive miscues in the top of the seventh on a ball through his legs and a bobble of a mighta-been double-play as Florida State scored a run to tie the game a 1-1. Orr led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, though, and the Phils went on to score five times in the frame. Hector Luna hit a two-run shot in the rally. Hunter Pence doubled and walked in two plate appearances. Mayberry started at first and went 0-for-3 with five men left on base.

Austin Hyatt started for the Phils and struck out three in two perfect innings.

This says that Ryan Howard will be sidelined indefinitely after a procedure on Monday “to clean an infection from his surgical wound.” I’m not a medical expert or anything, but I think this might mean it’s okay to call it a setback now.

Erik Kratz says that Phillippe Aumont is a bulldog in this article. I don’t think he’s being literal. I think we would need to start to seriously consider the effectiveness of the scouting process if the fact that Aumont was a bulldog rather than a baseball player had somehow slipped through the cracks before trading for him.

With a 1-0 loss on Friday, the Phils dropped their series with St Louis and were bounced out of the playoffs. For the second time in two years, it’s a disappointing end to a year for a team that looked destined for great things at times during the regular season.

Again it was an offensive collapse that did the Phillies in. After scoring 11 runs in the first game of the NLDS, the Phils scored just ten runs in the last four games. Three of those came on a pinch-hit home run by Ben Francisco in game three. In the five-game series, Pence, Ibanez, Howard, Polanco and Ruiz combined to go 12-for-89 (.135).

Game five featured two brilliant pitching performances, one from Roy Halladay and the other from Chris Carpenter. Halladay gave up a triple and a double to the first two batters in the game, with Skip Schumaker’s double plating Rafael Furcal for the only run of the contest. Carpenter threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits. Utley had a single on a ball deflected by a diving Pujols in the sixth. Victorino doubled in the second and singled in the fourth.

It was even worse than that for the Phils. For the second straight year, Ryan Howard got the last at-bat of the season for the Phils. He grounded to second this time, but crumpled to the ground almost immediately after with a ruptured left Achilles tendon. The timeline for his return is not known, but he may not be ready for Spring Training.

Again the Phils were eliminated from the post-season in a series in which they scored more runs than their opponent. The Phils outscored the Cards 21-19 in this year’s NLDS and outscored the Giants 20-19 in the 2010 NLCS.

The season is over for the Phils after losing to the St Louis Cardinals 1-0 in game five of the NLDS. Since the start for 2010, the Phillies have won 199 regular season games, winning the most games in either league in both ’10 and ’11. They are 7-7 in their last 14 playoff games.

Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing a run on six hits and a walk. Two of the hits went for extra-bases, a double and a triple allowed to the first two hitters of the game. He struck out seven.

Halladay was the only Phillie to make more than one start in the series. In two starts, he threw to an 2.25 ERA and an 0.69 ratio. He allowed four runs on nine hits and two walks over 16 innings. All four of the runs he allowed came in the first inning. Three came on a three-run homer by Berkman in game one.

He faced a St Louis lineup that went (1) Rafael Furcal (SS/S) (2) Skip Schumaker (CF/L) (3) Albert Pujols (1B/R) (4) Lance Berkman (LF/S) (5) Matt Holliday (LF/R) (6) Yadier Molina (C/R) (7) David Freese (3B/R) (8) Punto (2B/S). Schumaker starts in center, where he played 13 innings during the regular season. Theriot, 1-for-7 against Halladay for his career, on the bench with the switch-hitter Punto (4-for-14) at second.

St Louis had six hitters on the bench to start the game, righties Matt Theriot, Allen Craig and Gerald Laird, and lefties Adron Chambers, Jon Jay and Daniel Descalso.

Furcal was the first batter of the game and tripled to center on a 2-1 pitch. Schumaker was next and Halladay got ahead of him 0-2, but Schumaker hit a 2-2 pitch into the right field corner for a double that scored Furcal and put the Cards up 1-0. Pujols was next and hit a weird spinning ball towards second. Utley bare-handed it and threw to third, where Schumaker was tagged out for the first out with Pujols safe at first. Pujols took second on a wild pitch before Berkman reached on catcher’s interference when his backswing hit Ruiz’s glove, putting men on first and second. Halladay got Holliday to pop to Polanco in foul territory for the second out and Molina grounded to short to set the Cards down.

Yet another aggressive play by Utley and this one works as he guns down Schumaker at third for the first out.

Halladay set St Louis down in order in the second, striking Freese out swinging, getting Punto on a line drive to third and the pitcher Carpenter on a ground ball to short.

Furcal grounded to second to start the third. Schumaker flew to left for the second out and Pujols struck out swinging.

Eight in a row for Halladay.

Berkman flew to center to start the fourth and Berkman struck out swinging behind him. Molina singled to center and stole second before Freese struck out swinging 1-2 to end the frame.

Punto started the fifth with a single to left. Carpenter was next and bunted, but Ruiz jumped on the ball and threw to second to force Punto. Carpenter didn’t run and was easily doubled up. Furcal flew to Ibanez to set St Louis down.

In the sixth, Halladay got Jay (who took over for Schumaker in center in the third), Pujols and Berkman on three ground balls.

He got Holliday on a fly ball to center for the first out in the seventh and struck Molina out looking for the second. Freese was next and he singled to left. Descalso ran for Freese, but Halladay struck Punto out swinging 0-2 to leave him at first.

Carpenter singled into center to start the eighth. Furcal was next and hit a ball out in front of the plate. Ruiz took it and went to second, where his throw wasn’t handled by Rollins for an error. Ruiz was charged with an error and St Louis had men on first and second with nobody out. Jay bunted the runners to second and third with the first out and Halladay walked Pujols intentionally to load the bases. Halladay stayed in to pitch to Berkman and struck him out swinging 1-2 for the second out. Holliday flew to left to leave the bases loaded.

Manuel sure stayed with Halladay a long time. The pitch that got Holliday was number 126 in the game. Worked out great for the Phillies, but I think you have to bring Bastardo in to pitch to Berkman with one out and the bases loaded. Berkman is a lot better against righties than lefties. On the other hand, Halladay struck him out and kept St Louis off the board after loading the bases with one out.

Madson struck out Descalso and Punto in a 1-2-3 ninth.

Madson made four appearances in the series, allowing a run on four hits and no walks over 4 1/3 innings while striking out six.

Overall, the pen threw ten innings in five games for the Phils in the series. They allowed five earned runs on 12 hits and four walks over ten innings (4.50 ERA and a 1.60 ratio). They struggled in game one as Stutes allowed three runs in relief of Halladay. In game two they threw three scoreless innings to back Lee. In game three they allowed two runs over three innings in relief of Hamels, but held on for the win. Blanton and Lidge combined to throw two scoreless frames in game four and Madson threw a shutout inning in game five.

Nobody on the Cards had more than one hit in the game.

Schumaker and Theriot both went 6-for-10 in the series, each with two doubles.

Pujols was 7-for-20 with two walks and three doubles.

Freese 5-for-19 with nine strikeouts, but drove in a team-high five runs, including four in game four. Two doubles and a home run in the series.

Berkman was just 3-for-18, but with a big home run in game one.

Craig 1-for-10 with a triple and four walks.

Furcal 5-for-22 with two triples. He didn’t draw a walk out of the leadoff spot for St Louis in the series.

Holliday was 2-for-9 with two singles and Jay 2-for-12 with two singles. Jay drew three walks.

The Phillies lineup against righty Chris Carpenter went (1) Rollins (SS/S) (2) Utley (2B/L) (3) Pence (RF/R) (4) Howard (1B/L) (5) Victorino (CF/S) (6) Ibanez (LF/L) (7) Polanco (3B/R) (8) Ruiz (C/R).

The Phils started the game with six players on their bench, righties John Mayberry, Wilson Valdez and Ben Francisco, lefties Brian Schneider and Ross Gload and switch-hitter Michael Martinez.

Rollins, Utley and Pence went in order in the bottom of the first with the Phils down 1-0.

Howard grounded to second to start the second, but Victorino was next and ripped a double to right. Ibanez fouled out to Punto for the second out and Polanco grounded to short.

In the third, Ruiz flew to right, Halladay struck out swinging and Rollins grounded to third on a ball he thought was foul.

Carpenter hit Utley with a pitch to start the fourth. Pence was next and grounded to second with Utley forced at second for the first out. Howard lined to second for the second out. Victorino moved Pence to third with a single, bringing Ibanez to the plate with men on the corners. Ibanez hammered a 3-2 pitch to right, but Berkman took it at the wall to end the inning.

Two hits for Victorino to start the game, but Phils can’t score. Ibanez just missed.

Polanco, Ruiz and Halladay all grounded out as the Phillies went in order in the fifth.

Rollins grounded to short to start the sixth. Utley was next and hit a ball to first, deflected by a diving Pujols and into right for a single. Molina threw him out trying to steal second for the second out. Pence grounded to second to set the Phillies down.

Fantastic throw by Molina to throw Utley out at second on a breaking ball. Again Utley aggressive on the bases and again it hurts the Phils. Utley stole 14 bases during the regular season without being caught. Over the last three years he has stolen 50 bases during the regular season and been caught twice.

Howard, Victorino and Ibanez went in order in the seventh. Howard got way ahead in the count, then flew to right 3-0 for the first out.

Polanco and Ruiz both grounded out to start the eighth. With the righty Carpenter still pitching for the Cards, Gload hit for Halladay. Gload struck out swinging 1-2, but Molina’s throw to first pulled Pujols off the bag and Gload was safe. Rollins smashed a ball back up the middle, but it was deflected by Carpenter, went to Punto and Punto threw to first in time to nip Rollins.

Close play at first for the third out. Rollins used to be a little faster than he is now.

Utley smashed Carpenter’s first pitch of the ninth to center, but Chambers took it at the wall for the first out. Pence grounded to third for the second out. Howard grounded to second to end the season, crumpling to the ground with an injury unable to get up as the Cardinals celebrated.

Utley just missed.

Rollins was 0-for-4 in the game. He hit 450/476/650 in the series, going 9-for-20 with a walk and four doubles.

Utley 1-for-3 in the game with a caught stealing. 438/571/688 7-for-16 with three walks, two doubles and a triple.

Pence 0-for-4 in game five. 4-for-19 with two walks and four singles in the series. 211/286/211. 2-for-5 in game one and 2-for-14 after game one.

Howard 0-for-4. 2-for-19 with a walk, a home run and six RBI in the series with a 105/143/263 line. People remember him striking out to end the NLCS in 2010, but Howard was good in that series, going 7-for-22 with a 318/400/500 line.

Victorino was 2-for-3 in game five with a double, which was the only extra-base hit in the game for the Phils. 6-for-19 with a double in the series. 316/316/368.

Ibanez 0-for-3. 3-for-15 with a home run and four RBI in the series. 200/200/400. He’s 10-for-46 (.217) for the Phils in the post-season since the start of 2010.

Polanco 0-for-3 in the game and 2-for-19 in the series (105/105/105). 8-for-his-last-65 in the post-season (.123) and 8-for-48 over the last two years in the playoffs with the Phillies (.167).

Ruiz 0-for-3 in the game and 1-for-17 in the series (059/111/059).

Mayberry didn’t play in game five. He was 0-for-4 in the series.

Gload 0-for-1 in game five and 1-for-2 in the series.

Francisco didn’t play in game five. He was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer in the series.

Martinez appeared as a pinch-runner but didn’t have an at-bat in the series. Schneider didn’t appear.

The Phils jumped out to a one game to none lead in their series with the Cardinals tonight, getting a strong outing from Halladay after a worrisome start and mounting an offensive explosion late that saw them plate ten runs in their last three times at bat.

Halladay gave up a three-run homer to Lance Berkman in the top of the first, putting the Phils in an early 3-0 hole. The Phils look stumped by St Louis starter Kyle Lohse until the fourth when a David Freese error on a foul ball extended Victorino’s at-bat long enough for Victorino to knock in Utley and cut the lead to 3-1. The Phils knocked Lohse out of the game in a five-run sixth that featured a three-run shot by Howard and a two-run homer by Ibanez and put the Phils up 6-3. The Phillies thumped the St Louis pen in the seventh and the eighth, scoring five more runs charged to Marc Rzepczynski and Mitchell Boggs as they extended the lead to 11-3. Stutes didn’t have much luck when he took over for Halladay in the ninth, getting just one out before Madson came on to bail him out and hold the Cards to three runs in the inning.

The Phils lead their best-of-five NLDS with the Cardinals one game to none after winning 11-6 tonight.

Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a three-run homer by Lance Berkman. He struck out eight. After allowing a leadoff single to start the second, Halladay retired 20 hitters in a row.

He faced a St Louis lineup that went (1) Rafael Furcal (SS/S) (2) Allen Craig (RF/R) (3) Albert Pujols (1B/R) (4) Lance Berkman (LF/S) (5) David Freese (3B/R) (6) Yadier Molina (C/R) (7) Skip Schumaker (2B/L) (8) Jon Jay (CF/L). Furcal starts at short with questions coming into the game about his hamstring. Holliday on the bench with his finger and Allen Craig in the lineup in right.

St Louis had six hitters on the bench to start the game, righties Holliday, Gerald Laird and Ryan Theriot, lefties Adron Chambers and Daniel Descalso and switch-hitter Nick Punto. Punto hit about the same against lefties and righties in 2011. He’s been a little better against righties in his career.

Furcal was the first hitter of the game. He took strike one before singling into right. As the count went 1-1 on Craig, Furcal stole second. Ruiz’s throw bounced into second, Utley didn’t handle it cleanly and Furcal would have been safe if he had. Halladay struck Craig out swinging 2-2 for the first out. Pujols was next and Halladay walked him on four pitches, putting men on first and second. Berkman hammered the first pitch he saw out to right, putting St Louis up 3-0. Halladay got Freese looking 2-2 for the second out. Molina grounded to third on a 1-0 pitch to set the Cards down.

Berkman doesn’t watch a pitch after Pujols takes four straight balls. Guess Furcal’s hamstring is okay.

The last time anyone besides Lance Berkman has homered off of Roy Halladay is July 18 (Aramis Ramirez). At least in a game that counted. Maybe someone did in batting practice or whiffle ball or something. Over his last 94 1/3 innings he has given up two home runs and both have been hit by Berkman.

Schumaker led off the second and singled to right on an 0-1 pitch. Jay was next and he hit a ball hard to first, but Howard made a nice diving play and tossed to Halladay covering for the first out with Schumaker taking second. Halladay struck Lohse out swinging 0-2 for the second out and got Furcal to ground to second to leave Schumaker stranded.

Lohse doesn’t bunt Schumaker to third with the second out, which would have been a bad idea.

Halladay had thrown 29 pitches through two innings.

He set St Louis down in order in the third. Craig grounded to short for the first out. Pujols hit a pair of balls hard but foul down the third base line before grounding to Polanco for the second out. Berkman again swung at the first pitch and this time popped to Polanco in foul territory to end the frame.

Berkman swinging first pitch for the second time in two at-bats. Nine pitch inning for Halladay, who was at 38 for the game.

Freese led off the fourth and grounded to second 1-2. Halladay struck Molina out swinging 1-2 for the second out. Schumaker popped to third 0-2 to set St Louis down.

Nine in a row for Halladay. He was at 49 pitches for the game.

It was 3-1 when Halladay set St Louis down in order in the fifth. Jay struck out swinging 1-2 for the first out. Lohse grounded to short for the second. Furcal bunted back to the mound and was thrown out by Halladay for the third.

Twelve in a row for Halladay. Sixty pitches in the game.

The Cards went in order in the sixth, too. Craig struck out swinging 1-2 for the first out. Pujols hit a ground ball back up the middle that Rollins handled for the second. Berkman struck out swinging 1-2 for the third.

Fifteen in a row and 74 pitches.

The Phils led 6-3 when Halladay started the seventh. Freese grounded to third on a 1-1 pitch for the first out. Molina was next with a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a ball hit hard to Rollins. Rollins got in front of it, though, and threw Molina out for the second out. Schumaker hit the ball pretty well, too, but Howard took it at first and beat Schumaker to the bag for the third out.

Halladay was at 89 pitches and had retired 18 in a row.

The Phils were up 9-3 when Halladay started the eighth. Jay led off and chopped a ball to first. Howard handled it and tossed to Halladay covering. Daniel Descalso, who had entered with Marc Rzepczynski in the bottom of the seventh, was next and Halladay struck him out swinging for the second out. Furcal lined to left on a 2-2 pitch for the third out.

Twenty-one in a row. Halladay was at 105 pitches.

Stutes started the ninth for the Phils with an 11-3 lead. He got ahead of Craig 0-2, but walked him. Pujols was next and singled into center, moving Craig to second. With the count 1-0 on Berkman, Laird ran for Pujols at first. Berkman hit a 2-2 pitch to second that might have been a double-play, but Utley’s toss to Rollins at second wasn’t great and the Phils only got one. It left St Louis with men on first and third with one down and the lefty Chambers hit for pitcher Arthur Rhodes. Chambers ripped a 1-1 pitch into right for a single. Craig scored (11-4) and Berkman moved up to second. Molina followed with a single to left that loaded the bases. That was it for Stutes and Madson came on to pitch to Schumaker. Schumaker hit the first pitch from Madson to left and off the glove of a diving Mayberry for a double that scored Berkman and Chambers. 11-6 with one down and men on second and third. Jay was next and Madson struck him out swinging 0-2 for the second out. Holliday hit for Descalso and Madson struck him out swinging 0-2 to end the game.

Stutes faced five batters in the game, allowing three singles and a walk. He got one out and was charged with three runs. He threw 20 pitches in the game. Madson threw eight.

The Phillies lineup against righty Kyle Lohse went (1) Rollins (SS/S) (2) Utley (2B/L) (3) Pence (RF/R) (4) Howard (1B/L) (5) Victorino (CF/S) (6) Ibanez (LF/L) (7) Polanco (3B/R) (8) Ruiz (C/R). Utley hits second instead of third with Polanco hitting third instead of fifth. Victorino out of the two-hole and hitting fifth.

The Phils started the game with six players on their bench, righties John Mayberry, Wilson Valdez and Ben Francisco, lefties Brian Schneider and Ross Gload and switch-hitter Michael Martinez. Martinez was an atrocious hitter against both righties and lefties, but more atrocious against lefties. 179/189/196 for the year against lefties.

The Phils were down 3-0 when they hit in the first. Rollins broke his bat grounding to first on a 1-0 pitch for the first out. Utley hit an 0-1 pitch back to the mound. Lohse knocked it down, picked it up and threw Utley out at first for the second out. Pence grounded to second on a 1-0 pitch for the third out.

First career post-season at-bat for Pence. Lohse threw six pitches in the inning.

Howard lined Lohse’s first pitch of the bottom of the second to left for the first out. Victorino popped to Pujols near the mound for the second out. Ibanez squirted a ball towards third. Freese charged, fielded and made an off-balance throw to first that Pujols handled to end the inning.

Howard hit the ball well, just right at Berkman. Twelve pitches for Lohse through two.

Polanco led off the third and fouled out to Pujols on a running basket catch for the first out. Ruiz hit the ball pretty well, but flew to Jay in center on an 0-1 pitch for the second out. Halladay lined a 1-2 pitch to right, but Craig handled it for the third out.

Lohse was at 19.

Rollins led off the bottom of the fourth and struck out swinging 1-2 for the first out. Utley was next and hit a 1-0 pitch high off the wall in right for a double. Pence struck out swinging at a 1-2 pitch that was way outside for the second out before Howard walked on four pitches, putting men on first and second for Victorino. Victorino lofted a 1-2 pitch high down the third base line. Freese tried to make an over-the-shoulder basket catch and dropped the ball for an error. Victorino singled into left with Utley scoring to cut the lead to 3-1 with two down and men on first and second. Ibanez swung at the first pitch and flew to Craig in shallow right center to leave the runners stranded.

Pence looked bad striking out at a bad 1-2 pitch. Big hit for Victorino hitting behind Howard early in the series. Lohse didn’t seem real concerned about walking Howard on four pitches with Victorino behind him. Error by Freese gives Victorino another chance — it looked like Freese had time to get into better position to try to catch the ball.

Lohse was at 45 pitches.

Polanco struck out looking 1-2 for the first out in the fifth. Ruiz again hit the ball hard, but this time off the right foot of Lohse. Lohse threw him out for the second out. Halladay grounded to third for the third out.

Second time in two chances that Ruiz hit the ball hard without a hit. Lohse was at 54 pitches.

Things got a lot better for the Phils in the sixth. Rollins led off and singled to center. Utley was next and struck out for the first out, fooled on a 1-2 changeup out of the zone. Pence singled into center on the first pitch of his at-bat, moving Rollins to second. It brought Howard to the plate with men on first and second. He fouled off two 3-2 pitches and then crushed a ball way out to right for a three-run homer that put the Phils up 4-3. Victorino ripped a 1-0 pitch down the first base line, out but just foul, before he singled into center on a 2-2 pitch. It brought Ibanez to the plate and he hit a 2-0 pitch out to right for another homer and the Phils led 6-3. That was it for Lohse. Righty Octavio Dotel came in and struck Polanco and Ruiz both out swinging to end the inning.

Rollins starts the rally for the Phils with a single. Howard watched his home run in a way that might not appeal to those who aren’t fans of the Phillies. Howard, Victorino and Ibanez came close to going back-to-back-to-back with Victorino’s ball going foul just by a few feet.

Halladay hit for himself to start the seventh against lefty Marc Rzepczynski. Halladay had thrown 89 pitches in the game. He hit a ball back up the middle that went off of the pitcher’s glove for an infield single. Rollins was next and he singled to right, moving Halladay up to second. Utley showed bunt against the lefty, taking ball one and then strike one. He didn’t try to bunt at the 1-1 pitch, which was a ball, then fouled off the next offering to make it 2-2. Utley hit the 2-2 pitch into center for a single that loaded the bases. Righty Mitchell Boggs came in to pitch to Pence. Pence swung at the first pitch from Boggs and dribbled a ball out near the mound. Boggs picked it up and threw home to force Halladay for the first out. The righty Boggs stayed in the game to pitch to Howard and got ahead of him 0-2. Howard hit a 1-2 pitch hard to right. Craig took it for the second out with Rollins tagging and scoring from third to put the Phils up 7-3 with men on first and second. Victorino lined an 0-2 pitch from Boggs to right and Utley raced around third to slide in safe just ahead of the throw from Craig. 8-3 with men on first and second for Ibanez. Ibanez singled into right as well, with Pence scoring well ahead of the throw from Craig this time. 9-3 with men on first and third. Mayberry ran for Ibanez at first. Boggs got Polanco on a fly ball to right to end the inning.

Not a fan of trying to bunt with Utley if that’s what he really wanted to do. Howard gets to hit against the righty Boggs with a chance to blow the game open and has to settle for a sac fly. The other lefty in the pen for St Louis (Arthur Rhodes) stays in the pen. Victorino and Ibanez come through with back-to-back singles after Howard.

Boggs was back to start the eighth and got Ruiz on a ground ball to short to start the eighth. Halladay hit for himself again, this time with a six-run lead and having thrown 105 pitches in the game, and struck out swinging 3-2 for the second out. Rollins walked on a 3-2 pitch that was inside. Boggs again stayed in to face a lefty and Utley smoked a ball off the wall in right for a double, sending Rollins to third. Pence took strike one from Boggs, then roped a single into center that scored both Rollins and Utley and put the Phils up 11-3. Rhodes finally came into the game to face Howard with two down and Pence on first. Howard went down on a ground ball to Schumaker to end the inning.

St Louis sure stuck with Boggs for a while. He allowed four hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings and threw 36 pitches in the game.

Rollins was 2-for-4 with a walk and two singles in the game.

Utley was 3-for-5 with two doubles off the wall in right.

Pence 2-for-5 and drove in two runs.

Howard 1-for-3 with a walk, a three-run homer and four RBI.

Victorino 3-for-4 with two RBI.

Ibanez 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBI.

Polanco 0-for-4 and struck out twice.

Ruiz hit the ball hard twice, but was 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the game.

Cliff Lee will face righty Chris Carpenter in game two.

Lee went 17-8 with a 2.40 ERA and a 1.03 ratio during the regular season. He was third in the league in ERA and third in ratio. Second in strikeouts and fourth in fewest walks per nine innings.

Lee didn’t allow more than two earned runs in a start after July. In his last ten starts on the year he threw to an 0.93 ERA with an 0.84 ratio and struck out 79 in 77 2/3 innings.

He had a 1.94 ERA and an 0.98 ratio in his 18 starts at home in 2011.

Lefties hit .196 against him. He walked four of the 212 left-handed batters he faced in ’11.

Carpenter went 11-9 with a 3.45 ERA and a 1.26 ratio for St Louis in 34 starts this season. Carpenter led the NL in innings pitched and was in the top ten (seventh) in fewest home runs per nine innings. He allowed 16 in 237 1/3 innings for the year.

Carpenter allowed more than one run in just one of his last five starts to end the regular season. He threw to a 1.13 ERA over 40 innings in those appearances.