No point in breaking this one down, is there? Vicente Padilla didn’t have it, and while Cole Hamels didn’t really either, at least he managed to keep his three homers allowed to be all of the solo variety. Really, for an elimination game that saw six homers, there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement – just look at the FanGraphs win expectancy chart: Phillies all the way.

Talk about anti-climactic; this game was over in the bottom of the 1st inning.

Looking back at the 2009 NLCS, no one’s above reproach – except perhaps Andre Ethier, and maybe a tip of the hat to Orlando Hudson for hitting a pinch-homer in what was likely his final Dodger at-bat. There’s no shame in losing to the defending World Champions who look to be even better than last year, of course. Still, one wonders what might have been if Game 4 hadn’t ended the way it did and we were all tied up at 2 entering tonight.

I can only imagine the shitstorm the media will make about this in the coming days, but it’s important to remember that this wasn’t some epic chokejob against an underdog opponent. The Phillies are a fantastic team – probably just a better team – and they simply performed better.

Looking ahead to the offseason, it’s going to be a busy one. Did you realize that of this year’s starting 8 (9, if you count both 2Bmen), only Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal have 2010 contracts right now? And that doesn’t even consider the obvious starting rotation moves, possible coaching changes, and any fallout over the McCourt divorce.

We’ll be here for all of it at MSTI; probably spend a few days licking our wounds and refuting gross media inaccuracies, and start 2009 player reviews on Monday.

Thanks for sticking with us this year.