Phillies season ends with a metaphor

I picked the Phillies to win the World Series.
Chances are you did too.

Chances are you thought the Cardinals were a punching bag for the Phillies on their way to at the very least the National League pennant.

This was a Phillies team that won more games than any team in franchise history.
This was the team that kept Cliff Lee from the Yankees.
This was the team that had Halladay, Lee, Oswalt and Hamels in the best rotation since the Braves of the 1990s.

This was the team that was going to solidify itself as the greatest team in Philadelphia sports history.

The Cardinals were the nice story of a team that stumbled into the playoffs. But even that had as much to do with the Phillies beating the Braves at the end of the season.

So it came down to Ryan Howard at the plate. And I STILL didn't think the Phillies were losing. I thought he was going to park one.

And alas not only did he not park one, he collapsed out of the batters box.

This has to be one of the great upsets in Division Series history.
Right up there with the dual shockers in 2002 (the invincible Yankees and the winning streak A's getting knocked off by the Angels and Twins.)

This might even be bigger. This Phillies team was suppose to have no peer.
Now they have 2 big ones: The Red Sox and the Yankees.

The three big East Coast giants have been slain (not the mention the defending champion Giants).

If you can't win a playoff series where you start Halladay twice and Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt then there is something wrong.

There is no longer a prohibitive favorite to win the World Series.
They collapsed... figuratively and literally.