Giants beat Phils to win NL title

When it happened, there was no booing. Just silence.

Jayson Werth stared hopelessly at the first row of Section 106 at Citizens Bank Park, the spot where Juan Uribe's home run had landed, 17 years to the day Joe Carter hit a pitch thrown by a Phillie in a Game 6 on a Saturday in October that will forever live in infamy.

So will the cutter thrown by Ryan Madson, the one that Uribe hit to the opposite field Saturday to put the San Francisco Giants ahead of the Phillies, 3-2, in the eighth inning and for good in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

This season, which began with unparalleled promise and expectations in Philadelphia baseball history, was finished without a pennant.

"I felt like," closer Brad Lidge said, "we had the best team in baseball this year."

But history will simply show these Phillies were a disappointment, failing to reach their ultimate goal.

The Phillies could not become the first NL team to win three straight pennants since the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals. Now the window for success closes just a little more. Next year, the core Phillies that have brought this city so many triumphs will be another year removed from their peaks.

"This was a little bit tougher to swallow," Shane Victorino said.

The lasting memory of the 2010 season will be Ryan Howard's taking the final pitch of the game for strike three with the tying run on second base in the ninth. Home-plate umpire Tom Hallion rung up the slugger, who thought he had walked. Howard turned and looked at Hallion as the Giants stormed out of their dugout in celebration.

"I thought the pitch was down," Howard said. "He kind of paused before he made the call. It's kind of a tough way to end the season and the game. If you're going to call it, call it. Don't hesitate. But you can't reverse it. You have to live with it."

Howard and the Phillies will live with it until Feb. 13, when pitchers and catchers report to spring training in Clearwater, Fla.

An inning earlier, when the 46,062 fans in South Philadelphia finally realized Uribe's ball was not coming back - except when the fan who caught it threw it onto the field in disgust - there were groans. And there was a sense of finality.

"I saw Jayson Werth go toward the fence with his back to me," manager Charlie Manuel said, "and I go, 'Oh, no.' "

Uribe's homer barely cleared the right-field fence. It was his second home run in three lifetime at-bats against Madson. The stocky middle infielder had set a new career-high with 24 regular-season home runs at age 31. He had hit 151 in 10 seasons for three teams, none bigger than Saturday's.

Madson had been so good for the Phillies since Game 4. He struck out the side during a crucial eighth inning of Game 5. At one point, he had struck out six straight batters in this NLCS. But the 89-m.p.h. cutter that stayed across the plate to Uribe was the 72d pitch Madson had thrown in the span of four days.

"He hit a good pitch," Madson said.

It had been the Giants' bullpen that seemed likely to blow the game. After all, San Francisco needed its relievers before the third inning was over, just 12 batters into the contest.

The erratic Jonathan Sanchez was coming out of the game even before both benches cleared in the third inning after he hit Chase Utley with a pitch. But that was probably the worst thing to happen to the Phillies' offense all night.

Jeremy Affeldt, Madison Bumgarner, Javier Lopez, and Tim Lincecum (pitching on one day of rest after his Game 5 start) were mostly spotless.

The Phillies had plenty of chances. The best was in the fifth, when Jimmy Rollins appeared to have an opportunity to score on a Howard double to the left-field gap. But third-base coach Sam Perlozzo held Rollins. Werth was intentionally walked to bring up Victorino. He grounded back to the pitcher.

The Phillies left 11 men on base. They were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position, with no at-bat more painful than when Howard struck out looking to end the 2010 season.

"We couldn't get the big hit," Manuel said. It was far from the first time he uttered those words this season.

When the 171st and final game of the 2010 was completed, some of the Phillies remained at the top step of the home dugout and many fans did not move from their seats.

Each one was coming to grips with this reality: A baseball season in Philadelphia was over before the World Series for the first time in three years.