For Phillies Phans this is the apocalypse. Chris Carpenter held the “can’t miss” Ashburns to just three hits, and the upstart Cardinals went on to take the NLDS three games to two in a sparkling 1-0 win in Philadelphia, ending the Phillies post-season dream of another October World Series appearance. Phillies fans were so disappointed, they didn’t even boo.

The Philadelphia loss was as surprising as the poor performance of Charlie Manuel’s team, which couldn’t put together enough hits to cage the Redbirds. “Actually, I don’t know what to say,” Manuel said, following the loss. “I just got through talking to our team, and basically when I look at it, we played 162 games, and definitely we had the best record in baseball.”

But the best record (and the best pitching staff), wasn’t enough to carry the Phillies into the NLCS — with Phillies’ fans describing their team’s elimination as “a crushing disappointment.” The depth of the loss is reflected in the Philadelphia blogosphere: “Thud” was the headline of The Good Phight, while Beerleaguer led its coverage with “Failure In Philly.”

But while baseball’s blogworld focuses on “the Phailure in Philadelphia,” Friday’s loss was more the result of Chris Carpenter’s pitching performance than the poor hitting of Ryan Howard & Company. Carpenter walked none and struck out three, taming Halladay in what Cardinals’ manager Tony LaRussa called “a dream match-up” of Cy Young winners. Carpenter threw 110 pitches, 70 of them for strikes. It was a Phorgettable night in Philly, but not in St. Louis.

Of course, there are teams in baseball that would love to have bragging rights to a 102 win season — including the one right here in Washington. But expectations were so high in Philadelphia that what will follow now is an off-season of recriminations, and an effort to find that one missing piece that Phillies’ fans think they need. It might be ugly. “There are no two ways around it: 2011 is a failure for the Phillies,” Crashburn Alley said. Oh, boo-hoo . . .

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A regular reader of ours, an L.A. native, keeps pounding away about his beloved Dodgers — and like all good partisan fans, he predicted they’d win the N.L. West and then sweep their way through the post-season. “They’re the new Giants,” he said last April, “except that they’re better.”

Such expectations have not been realized: the Dodgers are a single game under .500, and are mired in third place on the left coast — well behind the disappointing Giants, and twelve games out of first place. This hasn’t stopped this fan from continuing his verbal assault. “Yeah,” he says. “But what about Clayton Kershaw? You have to admit, now, c’mon. Kershaw’s the best pitcher in the National League.”

Our tactic has been to ignore this, while reminding him of his April prediction — and what has happened in L.A. since. But at least when it comes to Kershaw, he has a point. If there’s one bit of good news that Nationals fans can take away from their most recent soggy series with the Trolleys (they lost two of three), it’s that at least they didn’t have to face Kershaw. And last night, against San Francisco, Kershaw put himself in the running for the Cy Young, outdueling the McCovey’s Tim Lincecum — and throwing an eight inning, three hit, nine strikeout gem.

Kershaw is now 18-5, and measures up well against the other hurlers in line for the Cy Young: Ian Kennedy, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay. The problem is that Kershaw plays for the Dodgers, which shouldn’t make the least bit of difference when it comes to the Cy Young voting — except that it will.

Even so, Kershaw should now be considered a front runner: while he doesn’t have the profile of Halladay, he leads the N.L. in strikeouts (ahead of Lincecum, Halladay, Lee and Kennedy — and in that order), and the fact that he plays for the L.A. Bankrupts could actually be in his favor. He’s pulled off a great season despite the team around him, and he leads the Nationals League in innings, ERA and strikeouts per nine.

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When the MLB-best Philadelphia Phillies roared into town on Monday with Doc Halladay (he of the 2.56 ERA) scheduled to be on the hill, the woeful Nats line-up had every right to be shaking in the their boots. But despite their .230 team batting average the Nats held their own by slamming three homers and totaling 10 hits on the day. Even so, they went down in a 5-4 defeat.

But another one-run loss needn’t have been the ultimate result given the beautiful chance the home town nine had to put some points on the board in the seventh. Down by a run the Nationals had runners on first and third with no outs — thanks to a lead off double by Alex Cora and a bunt single by Ian Desmond. With the Phillies infield playing in, the Nats had Cora running on the crack of the bat. Unfortunately, Rick Ankiel delivered a swinging bunt back to the box and Hallady fielded it cleanly, delivered another strike to the plate and catcher Carlos Ruiz relayed the ball to third-sacker Placido Polanco who put the tag on Cora. The unusual 1-to-2-5 play took the wind out of the Nats’ sails and they never threatened again.

Was it bad luck that Cora was running on contact — or a bad call by Riggleman? My guess is neither. Forget about luck. If you make enough plays you’ll win. And it wasn’t a bad call; it was an aggressive one. And it’s just what the Nats need. If Ankiel’s grounder was a couple of feet to the left Halladay doesn’t reach it . . . and it dribbles toward second. Score tied.

It wasn’t meant to be: the Nats didn’t help themselves with seven strike outs, including one for each of the top five spots in the lineup (Espinosa K’d twice). The Nationals are second in the majors in strikeouts with 412 for the year and that may be part of the problem. When a team strikes out 25 percent of the time, the ball isn’t put in play often enough — and there aren’t Nats on base to make good things happen. If you strike out, you can’t hit and run, or steal a base. When you strike out, you don’t have the opportunity to make your own good luck. And that’s what the Nats need right about now.

Roy Halladay was not his usual self on Monday, but in the end that didn’t matter: the visiting Philadelphia Phillies squeaked out a 5-4 one-run win at Nationals Park — to bring his record to 11-1 against the Nationals. The one run loss was yet another bitter pill for the Southeast Nine, who are now 5-13 in one run games. It was Washington’s sixth straight loss to the Phillies.

Strangely, and despite his dominance of the Nationals, Halladay struggled, giving up home runs to Michael Morse (who continues to hit the ball on the screws), Danny Espinosa and Laynce Nix. Behind at the end of the 6th, the Phillies were able to put two runs on the board off of reliever Sean Burnett, who continues to (oddly) struggle against lefties. And Burnett walked two batters, a habit the Nationals can’t seem to shake. But Burnett’s collapse could not eclipse yet another solid outing for Livan Hernandez, who remains the staff stopper.

The Phillies’ line-up lifted Halladay, when just the opposite has traditionally been the case: “It was a grind, it really was,” Halladay said. “Fortunately we did enough offensively. They picked me up a couple times. It was a nice way to end it, for sure.” The Nationals will face off against the Phillies again on Tuesday, when Jason Marquis goes to the mound against Cliff Lee.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: You’ve got to hand it to Phil Wood. The ubiquitous MASN pre- and post-game commentator, and host of radio’s “Nats Talk Live,” has a way of calming the most tension-filled discussion. Wood is not only the dean of Washington baseball historians (and is distinctly un-telegenic, to boot), he has a tendency of getting things right. This afternoon, after the Nationals dropped yet another one to the Phillies, Wood was philosophical. “Listen,” he said to one caller, “this is the Phillies. They have a solid team that’s built for the playoffs.” Wood has a pretty good piece on this, on his MASN blog, and it makes sense . . .

Wood was also less than impressed by Nationals fans who complained about the thousands of Phillies faithful who filled Nationals Park, to root for their favorites — and jeer Jayson Werth. Woods compared the crowds to those that once graced the Capitals’ Center back in the 1970s, when Flyers fans outnumbered the home boosters. Now, with the Caps winning (er, well . . . er), Flyers fans are nowhere to be seen. We’re inclined to agree: when the Nationals put a winning team on the field, the Phillies fans will be squeezed out of tickets. “What do we expect?” Phil said. “You can’t not sell the tickets.” He’s right of course, but still . . . it’s hard to swallow.

Should “They” Let Teddy Win? One of the more interesting post-game callers suggested that it’s about time that the powers-that-be (and we know who they are) allow Teddy to win the president’s race. Phil Wood and F.P. What’s-his-name actually thought that, since it was Memorial Day, that might happen. Our favorite blog on this vital issue was bubbling over with anticipation that Teddy might finally break out of the pack: even Jayson Werth stepped out of the dugout on Monday to follow the race.

Teddy lost (of course), but the caller said that maybe letting him win would change the fortunes of the team. That is, perhaps Teddy has come to symbolize a franchise that hasn’t put up a winning record for, well . . . for a long time. Wood didn’t exactly dismiss the theory, but he presented one of his own. That the Nationals should add George Bush as a fifth racing president. When Bush lost (Wood suggested), a member of the Supreme Court could come out of the stands and declare him a winner. Not a bad idea.

Our own view, here at CFG, is that Teddy should win — but only during the first game of a World Series played at Nationals Park. Yeah, that’s a long ways away. Or, as one of our fellow fans said earlier this year (when the game was going against the Nats): “Yeah, it’s 3-0 for God’s Sake, so f –ck the racing presidents.”

Washington Nationals’ lefty starter John Lannan is now 0-10 against the Phillies – the classic definition of “snake bit.” Last night in Philadelphia, Lannan couldn’t make it out of the third inning, as the Phillies put up six runs on seven straight hits. After the Phillies recorded a 7-3 win (sweeping the Nationals at Citizens Bank) Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman shook his head over Lannan’s record: “What are they, 10-0? That’s too much for the quality of stuff John has for any club to do that,” he said. “I don’t have any explanation other than that they are a very good ballclub, but they just see him good or something. Most of their guys are on him good.”

If there is good news from the loss, it is that the Nats’ bullpen was, once again, effective — giving up just one run in eight innings. Nationals hitters, however, couldn’t master the Phillies’ starting pitching, as uber ace Roy Halladay glided to his fifth win of the season. Halladay pitched seven innings of six hit ball, registering 10 strikeouts without walking anyone. There doesn’t seem to be any doubt — Halladay’s 2011 campaign makes him the best pitcher in baseball, his only loss coming on April 19 in Milwaukee. He has a 2.19 ERA, while averaging a little over eight strikeouts per game.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Atlanta Braves, with the upstart Marlins, are emerging as Philadelphia’s competitor for the top spot in the NL East. The Tomahawks swept their four game set with the Brewers, taming the beer kings at home last night by a score of 2-1. The key for the Braves has been their pitching — they are first in the NL in ERA and their staff has thrown five complete games. Last night was symbolic of what the Bravos have done: nifty new righty Brandon Beachy (he’s 24, with a 2.98 ERA) threw six innings of four hit baseball and the Braves got just enough runs to win.

Can the Braves give Philadelphia a run? We’ll find out soon enough: Atlanta waltz’s into Philadelphia tonight to take on the red-hot Phillies, with Derek “NASCAR” Lowe taking on Cliff Lee. Both have had their issues. Lowe can’t seem to get any run support from his teammates. The last time he faced Philadelphia, on April 10, he pitched beautifully against Phillies’ boppers, but received no run support and lost the game — 3-0. While Lowe hasn’t been exactly lights-out this season (he’s 2-3 with a 3.72 ERA), the Braves score just a bit over one run when he’s on the mound.

Cliff Lee, meanwhile, has been Lannan-like against the Tomahawks. He’s had three starts against the Bravos and is an embarrassing 1-2 with a 6.98 ERA. The Peach Tree Nine scalded Lee in his first start against them this year: on April 8, he just couldn’t seem to get them out — giving up 10 hits and six earned. It’s a head-scratcher. This is an important series for the Braves, who trail both the Marlins (who take on the Nationals starting tonight in Miami) and Phillies in the N.L. Least.

The Marlins must be pleased with these May match-ups. With Philadelphia and Atlanta slugging it out in the City of Brotherly Love (or whatever), the Fish can strut their stuff in Miami, where they play well against the Nats. The Marlins are emerging from a knock-down, drag-out three game series against the Redbirds in St. Louis, where they lost two of three. Their last loss, last night, featured Josh Johnson looking confused — the first time this year that has happened. Johnson gave up 5 runs in 7.1 in taking his first loss of the season. Even with that, he wasn’t that bad: his command was a little off (he gave up four walks), but with some run support, he’d have been in the game. St. Louis scored four in the 8th, but not against him.

No one is fooled: even with the loss, Johnson still sports a 1.68 ERA. Just how good is this guy? While he’s not carrying the team, he’s a near sure-lock win everytime he appears. In seven appearances this year, he’s never gone less than six innings — his walk totals are low, his strikeouts high, his command good and his stuff better. He might be the best pitcher in baseball, excepting Halladay (oh, and Tim Lincecum). The Nats stroll into whatever-their-stadium-name-is-this-year to take on the Marlins tonight for a three game set. The good news is they won’t be facing Johnson.

Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies shut down the Washington Nationals for eight innings last night at Nationals Park — but a 9th inning rally fell just short of what would have been a thrilling win. Halladay was brilliant through eight: he allowed just two hits and no runs over those innings in outmatching Washington sluggers. In all, Halladay threw 123 pitches, 88 of them for strikes. John Lannan also pitched well, but not well enough, giving up two runs on six hits in six innings. But Halladay was the story of the game. “He was good, not just tonight. Every time he takes the mound, he is good,” Nats fill-in third sacker Jerry Hairston said of Halladay. “He screws the ball around — cuts it, spots it, sinks it. He has four pitches that he could go to anytime.

The Nationals made it interesting in the 9th. Rick Ankiel led off the inning with a double and Jayson Werth (the subject of Philly fan signs in the seats along the third base line) followed with a single. Halladay recovered to strike out Adam LaRoche on a biting curve — at 81 mph. But the Nats kept the rally alive: Laynce Nix powered a line drive into right field, scoring Ankiel and Danny Espinosa followed with a single that drove Jimmy Rollins deep in the hole at short. But Halladay cut the rally short, striking out Matt Stairs (who never got the bat off his shoulder) and Pudge Rodriguez.

The Wisdom Of Section 1-2-9: With Phillies fans grouped along the third base line, Section 1-2-9 served as a kind of counterpoint. “Look at those guys,” a fan in row AA said, nodding to a loud group of Utley jersey-wearing groupies in the next section over. “I’ll bet they can’t even name Philadelphia’s starting line-up.” There was a nearby chuckle: “Schmidt at third, Dick Allen in left, Carlton on the mound . . . good players, crappy team.” A nod: “Didn’t Carlton win the Cy Young when they were a last place team?” A Phillies fan two rows back was listening, and leaned forward: “Yeah in ’72,” he said. “The Phillies won 59 games, he won 27 of them.” No one turned around.

When John Lannan took his warm-ups there was silence, and then this — “he put on weight, looks like he bulked up.” And then a response: “We should have traded him after his rookie year, when teams were asking about him. I don’t think they’re asking any more.” There were nods all around: “It’s always tough pitching when you’re behind in the count,” a fan said, “but Lannan has the toughest time. He just serves it up. When it’s 1-2, I just look the other way. It’s line drive time.” There was agreement with this: “Well, this year he has an infield, so maybe things will change, you never know.” The familiar face in a “DC” hat, who’d seen all of the team’s home games last year, chimed in. “They’ll keep him,” he said. “There’s no guarantees on Strasburg. Everyone assumes he’ll be back in September. But he was having forearm problems before he went down with the elbow.”

There were surprisingly few comments on Roy Halladay, even as he set down the side in the 5th and 6th. Except for a near surrender from a regular: “Yeah, well, it’s Roy Halladay.” Inevitably, perhaps, the talk turned to Bryce Harper. “He just put one out in Lexington,” a fan announced, turning in his seat. “You know, Davey Johnson has an interesting philosophy,” a fan responded. “He says if a guy can field his position, knows the strike zone and swings only at strikes, he’s ready.” A fan nodded: “By that measure Harper is ready now — we can send Broderick packing.” Another regular had this to say: “To hell with putting him in right. If you’re going to teach a guy the outfield, put him in center. He’s athletic. When’s the last time the majors had a premier center fielder?” The subject turned to pitching: “If I never see Garrett Mock up here again it’ll be too soon,” a Nats regular announced. “In Spring Training, everyone was talking about how good his stuff is. But when he gets up here, we never see it.”

In the top of the 9th, when it seemed Halladay would cruise to an easy victory, there were some final judgments. “I like our infield,” a fan said. “I wouldn’t trade it away for Greinke. I’m glad we didn’t do that. We need to develop pitching, not trade for it.” Nods, but one disagreement. “We need a a strike out guy, desperately. And we need to get this done in the next two years. Zimmerman isn’t getting younger and Werth will be at his peak next year and the year after. We do it then or we don’t do it.” Silence, and a final coda: “Listen, I’m just overjoyed that every time I look into the outfield I see Rick Ankiel out there instead of Nyjer Morgan.” No one said a word.

The Washington Nationals are now 1-4 and have lost three in a row. After a good start on Wednesday night in Florida (the Nats took a 4-0 lead on the solid pitching of Livan Hernandez), the Nationals fell to the Marlins, 7-4. The game was a symbol of what Washington seems to do so well: after innings of good starting pitching, the Nationals bats fell silent, the opposition was let back into the game, and the bullpen was less than stellar. Reason to panic? Not according to Nationals’ players: skipper Jim Riggleman said after the game that the clubhouse was still positive and that it was only a matter of time before the Nats break out. True enough, it’s still early — right? Right?

It’s not a secret, the hole in the Nats team is the starting pitching: the relief core is solid, the team should be able to hit. But in the early going, the bullpen has struggled — and key players bats are silent. Chad Gaudin and Todd Coffey’s ERA is soaring, and even the best arms seem tentative. Adam LaRoche, Michael Morse and Rick Ankiel are looking up at the Mendoza line, hitting .158, 118 and .133 respectively. Of course, or so the argument goes, we can expect that the Nats are going to have trouble getting on track so long as they face the Marlins, Riggleman told Mark Zuckerman. “You have to start feeling that you’ve got to put these guys away when you have an opportunity,” the manager said. “They’ve got a good group there, and they’ve had their way with us for a couple years now. There’s nothing to do but battle your way out of it and bust open a ballgame to where they can’t come back.”

I’d Rather Eat Glass Than Hear Another Word About The Phillies: While baseball is oohing and ahhing about Philadelphia’s Phab Phour, let’s try to remember that the San Francisco Giants are the champions of the world. Last night they showed why: the Giants sent the Padres packing 8-4 behind the pitching of (who else?) Tim Lincecum. Lincecum was at his best, holding the Friars to three hits in seven innings: he struck out 13. He struck out 13. So while there’s all this talk about Halliday, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels (as, I suppose, there should be), Lincecum is still the best pitcher in baseball. Yeah, yeah, yeah — but what about Halliday? Well, what about him?

For all of the sturm and drung about the NL East, it’s still the NL Least — the NL West is the tougher division. By far. Check the facts: the NL West has supplied two World Series teams in the last five years, the Rockies and Giants, the West has provided the NL’s best pitching staffs in three of the last five years (Dodgers, Padres and Giants), and nine of the last 12 Cy Young winners have come from the NL West (that’s unbelievable, when you think about it). Sure, there’s the Phab Phour in Philly (and a tough but, let’s admit, not a great staff in Atlanta), but the NL West has a top-flight rotation in San Fran and nothing to sneeze at in Los Angeles, Colorado and San Diego. Name one Atlanta starter who’s as good as Ubaldo Jimenez. Yeah, okay: Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe are savvy, but that’s because they have to be — their fastballs are Ubaldo’s change-up.

That’s just a part of it. While anyone and their mother can pick the Phillies to win the NL East, you have to flip a coin when it comes to the West. “No more division has been more hotly contest over the past five years,” Sport Illustrated noted in its baseball preview issue. No one would be totally shocked if the Padres came close again this year — a reminder to those who thought they’d be the worst team in baseball in ’10. No division in baseball has had tighter races (since ’06 no one has won the West by more than two games), and the West has more one run games than anyone else. So . . . so, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner don’t sound like Halliday, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels, but they were good enough last year to win it all — and the Giants have Brian Wilson. And the Phillies have . . . well, they’ll let us know. The Giants are slow out of the gate, but last night’s ho-hummer in Friarland is a reminder that San Francisco remains the team to beat.