So there he was, a year later, bat in hand, two outs in the ninth his team needing a run to keep its season alive.

Fate is cruel, but watching Ryan Howard writhing in pain along the first base line as the St. Louis Cardinals celebrated this latest bitter end to a promising Phillies season was, in a word, inhumane.

Howard grounded out to end last night’s deciding Game 5, a 1-0 Cardinals victory that underlined the dark fears that lay underneath their 102 win regular season.

This time though, he was far from the only culprit. The Phillies managed just three hits playing in their home park, where they had recorded more victories than any other team this season, but just one in three times this postseason.

The Phillies threw almost $50 million of pitching at the St. Louis Cardinals in this series, a number that equals just about half the money the wild-card team that beat it paid its entire 25-man squad. They gave them a big dose of Roy Halladay and a smaller dose of Cliff Lee, but as the Yankees learned the other day and the Red Sox learned in September, money doesn’t always buy you happiness.

Combined, the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies spent a half-billion dollars to try and win a world championship that will now be decided by four teams whose combined payrolls lay well short of that. You have to go 10 teams down to find the highest remaining payroll in these playoffs, the Detroit Tigers. And right behind them, you will find the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cardinals advanced not just because they hit, but because their overlooked staff matched the Phillies famous staff, made the Phillies lineup so dormant that the two loudest innings of the game began with a hit batsmen and a dropped third strike.

In fairness, St. Louis sent its own big-dollar pitcher out against the Phillies last night and, unlike Halladay, Chris Carpenter found his groove immediately. After watching Halladay succumb to his season-long Achilles – a first-inning run – Carpenter used just 10 pitches to retire the Phillies in order.

Despite 46,530 desperately pleading for something that resembled 2008, or even 2009, that’s the way it went for most of this excruciatingly frustrating night. The Phillies went down in order in the first, the third, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh and the ninth. Only in the fourth did they advance a runner to third, Hunter Pence scurrying to third on Shane Victorino’s second hit of the night. Raul Ibanez sent Lance Berkman to the base of the rightfield wall, and that was the best of it.

So now what? Trades? More free agents? Another hitting coach? Does the manager feel some heat after the hands-off policy that followed that 2008 season?

The Phillies have given us some interesting winters since then. This one looks to be even more so.

ST. LOUIS – They scored two quick runs. Their lucky squirrel re-appeared. Fortune offered itself to the Phillies in Game 4 of the National League Division Series last night, chased them a bit, but like that crazy squirrel, they kept running from it.

David Freese knocked in four of the Cardinals' five runs with a double and home run off Phillies starter Roy Oswalt, and St. Louis starter Edwin Jackson recovered from the shakiest of starts to pitch six strong innings, propelling St. Louis to a 5-3 victory and a Game 5 showdown with the Phillies Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

That’s twice now in this series that the Phillies have offered one of their aces a lead to work with. And they’ve lost both games, scoring just twon runs after the first inning in both.

Do they relax? After all the heartache of last year, and the previous one?

And yet there does seem to be a lack of focus in their at-bats, and discipline.

The Phils struck early, scoring two in the first inning. They might have scored more if not for yet more dubious umpiring. Jimmy Rollins bounced a double over the centerfield wall on Jackson’s first pitch. Chase Utley ripped a triple just inside the first-base bag and Hunter Pence plated him with a sharp single to left. But after Ryan Howard patiently worked from an 0-2 count to full, home plate umpire Angel Hernandez rung him up on a pitch that looked outside and second-base umpire Chad Fairchild called out Pence after he clearly slid under the tag. One pitch, two calls, and a big first inning had been averted.

The Cardinals got one back immediately on Lance Berkman’s two-out double into the gap. His fourth hit in six at-bats against Oswalt -- his good friend and ex-teammate -- scored Skip Schumacker, who continued his torrid hitting in this series with a one-out single. Berkman reached third after Shane Victorino slipped as he turned to throw back to the infield. But Matt Holliday, starting in leftfield for the first time in this series, grounded to Rollins, and the Phillies held their lead.

Both pitchers settled down in the second, retiring hitters quickly. Jackson struck out Ibanez, retired Polanco on a weak popup and struck out Ruiz. Oswalt struck out Yadier Molina and David Freese, then induced a groundout from Jon Jay. Same for the third, both men surrendering obligatory singles to each team’s hottest hitter (Rollins, Schumacker), then stranding them at first.

That all changed in the Cardinals' fourth. Spooked by Berkman’s success perhaps, Oswalt issued a five-pitch walk to him, then sailed an inside pitch off the hands of Holliday to put two on with no out. Molina advanced Berkman to third with a drive that Pence caught on the run in deep right, and Oswalt had an escape hatch with David Freese at the plate.

But Freese ripped an offspeed pitch to the leftfield corner, scoring both runners and pushing the Cardinals ahead 3-2 and underlining the effect iffy umpiring can have on any series, and especially a short one. Jackson allows an average of more than one hit per inning, but only once in his last six regular-season starts of this season had he allowed more than two runs.

Still, it was only 3-2 when the squirrel re-appeared near the Cardinals dugout in the fifth inning. ``Rocky’’ streaked across home plate as a pitch from Roy Oswalt was delivered to Schumacker. Already with two hits in the game and five in seven at-bats during the series, Schumacker flew out on the next pitch, pulled a hamstring running to first, and was then removed in favor of Ryan Theriot as the Cardinals took the field.

Utley walked to begin the Phillies sixth. With him running, Pence slapped a ball to deep short that would have been a tight play at first. But when Utley kept running towards third, Pujols charged toward the throw and gunned the Phillies second baseman down at third. At the very least, a runner in scoring position was removed. Ahead 3-0, Ryan Howard chased a low 3-1 pitch, then flew out to center. Shane Victorino grounded out to end the inning.

Howard had one more chance to be the hero in his hometown, coming to plate as the tying run after the Phillies had pushed across a run in the eighth. Facing Marc Rzepczynski, Tony LaRussa’s last available lefty, Howard went down on three straight pitches.

So we’re back to Philadelphia for a deciding fifth game, a game that will pit the Cardinals ace, Chris Carpenter, on normal rest against the Phillies ace, Roy Halladay, on extra rest. Cliff Lee will also be available, and Ryan Madson will again be capable of two innings of work. Home field, extra rest – it’s a slight advantage for the Phillies.

But nothing you can’t squirrel out of.

Join Daily News columnist Sam Donnellon for a live chat ahead of Game 4 of the National League Division Series between the Phillies and Cardinals, starting at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

If you're on a mobile device, click here to follow along and post comments.

ST. LOUIS – Lurking below the praise of four Phillies starters capable on any given day of shutting down their opponent is that dark underbelly that has fed our anxiety all season long.

No, not the bullpen. Nothing lurking about it.

It’s this: On any given day, the opponent is capable of shutting down their team too. Especially when throwing lefthanded.

It’s why Jaime Garcia has resembled Sandy Koufax each time he has faced the Phillies, or to make the conversation more retro, Mike Scott or Bruce Hurst. It’s why this time of the year is more often determined by tiny plays than tiny ERAs, by one decision, one pitch or one swing, and not an aggregate effort.

And so it was in today's Game 3 of the National League Division Series, Cole Hamels surviving his round-by-round flinching match with Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia, pitching gritty more than pretty, making big pitches and getting the big outs over six shutout innings of intense pressure from the Cardinals lineup. And there was Garcia, so dominant for six of those innings, finally flinching in the worst of ways, surrendering Ben Francisco’s three-run home run to tilt a game he had dominated in the Phillies favor, and perhaps tilt this series as well.

The Phillies survived, 3-2, for a 2-1 series lead and will send Roy Oswalt to the hill tomorrow night in an attempt to seal a fourth straight trip to the National League Championship Series.

The winning blow came after Garcia struck out with two men on to end the sixth, and end Hamels night at 117 pitches. Garcia seemed to take that to the mound with him, falling behind 3-0 for the first time in the game to Shane Victorino before surrendering a single.

Then came the little decision by Tony LaRussa, celebrating his 67th birthday that had big consequences. Aware that the pinch-hitter on deck, Ben Francisco, had not hit a home run since May 25, the Cardinals manager ordered an intentional walk to Carlos Ruiz, who has just one hit in 11 tries this series. LaRussa also left Garcia in to hit the previous inning, but he could hardly be faulted for that.

Those who have heard Charlie Manuel on Ben Francisco know the refrain by heart. He likes fastballs, and Garcia delivered one, at 89 miles an hour, after a first-pitch ball. Francisco blasted it over the wall in right-centerfield for a 3-0 Phillies lead. They went on to win – survive, really – thanks to some clutch pitching by their closer, Ryan Madson, who induced a bases-loaded double play on his second pitch in the eighth inning and

“I knew the way the game was going I was going to probably pinch-hit off a lefty,” Francisco said in a television interview immediately after the game. “I was trying to get a hit up the middle and he left one out there.”

Opportunism won the Phillies their only World Series more than pitching did, and it cost them a third straight trip to the World Series against the Giants last year. ``You can have your big games in the postseason,’’ Hamels had said before this one. ``But at the same time, it takes a whole team. I know a pitcher can throw up a bunch of zeroes, but if they don't score, then you somewhat did your job, but at the same time you didn't get the win.’’

With two outs in the second inning and Ruiz still on first, Jimmy Rollins singled to centerfield. The late afternoon sun froze John Jay for a few seconds before he scurried in to field the ball. Had Ruiz been running on the pitch, he might have scored and provided that all-important lead.

The Cardinals were not without blips as well. With two outs in the fourth inning, Ryan Theriot stole second. Already down 2-0 to Jon Jay with the pitcher due up next, Ruiz stuck his glove out for an intentional walk. But the next pitch Hamels sailed frighteningly towards the plate and if Jay was more alert, could have easily been hammered into the outfield. Instead Hamels completed the walk and retired Garcia, holding the game scoreless after four innings despite throwing 77 pitches.

The oddity of that line was that Hamels threw first-pitch strikes to most of the Cardinals hitters while accumulating that total. Minus his best stuff, against the best hitting team in the National League, he refused to surrender a run.

We need a new name for Hollywood. He’s pretty after he pitches, not during.

It was an offseason in which delighted Phillies fans salivated at the prospect of offering the opposition the double dose of aces that was the lot of the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend. The down side? Both Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee are signed to long-term deals, which makes the chance that the two men will ever face off against each other in a game as important as tonight’s nearly nil.

Which means the closest you are likely to come to last year’s dream/nightmare matchup was Game 2 of the National League Division Series, which pitted Lee against Halladay clone Chris Carpenter, the St. Louis ace who stands 6-6 and on most nights, commands his pitches like a surgeon handles his tools.

This was not most nights. For either man. The Cardinals rallied from a four-run hole to beat the Phillies, 5-4 in front of 46,575 at Citizens Bank Park, another sellout record.

Carpenter allowed four runs over the first two innings and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning. But that fourth-inning proved Lee’s undoing as well, as seven Cardinals came to the plate and Lee’s advantage was shaved to a single run. St. Louis tied it on Jon Jay’s two-out single in the sixth, and went ahead when Albert Pujols singled in Allen Craig, who had tripled off Lee to start the seventh.

Lee was operating on normal rest, the luxury of a staff that also includes Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. Carpenter was working on three days rest for the first time in his career, and after throwing more innings this season than any other National League pitcher, it showed. He allowed the first four Phillies he faced to reach base, surrendering a leadoff double to Rollins off the top of the wall, and a bases-loaded two-run single to Ryan Howard. Of the 64 pitches he threw before leaving the game for a pinchhitter amid the fourth inning rally, 34 were strikes.

Carpenter’s control issues continued, allowing an RBI single to Raul Ibanez that inning and another to Hunter Pence in the second. Ryan Howard’s bid for a second three-run home run in as many days fell just short of the leftfield wall, and as odd as the Eagles fizzle had been earlier in the day, this one, by this team, was odder than the final pitching lines of both starters.

Facing a bullpen that was seen as the Cardinals Achilles at the start of this series, the Phillies made 15 consecutive outs before Rollins singled with two outs in the seventh.

And then, in what some would say was a loss of focus, he was picked off.

Lee surrendered a first-inning, first-pitch triple to Rafael Furcal and a leadoff double to David Freese, but pitched his way out of both with the type of unpredictable accuracy he has been known for. In the ugly end, his Achilles were not been the big boppers at the top of the order. Until the seventh, he had allowed the top five guys just three of those 12 hits, had recorded five of his nine strikeouts. It was the back-end guys, particularly part-time second baseman Ryan Theriot, who smashed doubles in both the fourth and the sixth, and who scored both times.

About 40 professionals from my hometown were asked to share their memories of 9/11 with high school students, some who barely remember the attacks of that day. I was honored to be asked. Below is what I said.

Good afternoon. My name is Sam Donnellon and I am a sports columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com. I am also a Haddonfield parent of three children, all of whom have passed through these halls, at least one of whom had Mr. Coughlin as their teacher at one point or another. Patrick Donnellon, my youngest, graduated HMHS last year and is now at the University of Dayton, and loving it.

By now I hope that what I am about to share with you is merely a garnish to the day’s events. I hope at some point today, if not all of it, you tried to imagine what it would have been like to be a high school senior on that day 10 years ago, what it would have been like to have a family member, a working father or working mother, traveling somewhere on that day. And finally, and most of all, what it would have been like to have someone you know, or love, working in or even near those two buildings that day.

Anyway, where was I 10 years ago Sunday? I was in a car,  on Crystal Lake Avenue, on my way to the airport, when I found out. I was headed to a big first-place showdown series between the Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, bigger than the one that just took place here earlier this week. Larry Bowa was the manager.  Current Milwaukee pitcher Randy Wolf – whom the Phillies face tomorrow – was their best-known pitcher.

A few minutes before, I was in my usual scramble to pack and get out the door when the house phone rung. I let it ring, let the answering machine pick up, and heard my mother’s voice on the other line. Usually, she will conjure up some reason that she needed to talk to me, but that day it was just something like, `Just calling to see what you’re doing. Call me back. Please.’

The `Please’ was definitely not normal protocol. Especially the sad way she said it. Anyway for whatever reason, because I hardly did it in those days, I flipped on 1050 as I turned off Haddon Avenue. It was a gorgeous day of course, so I had no concern about the flight. About 20 seconds into listening though I heard that the Philadelphia Airport was closed. My first thought was that something had crashed there.  Even when I first heard it was a plane that hit the towers in New York, I thought of one of those small craft mishaps.

 But the gaps in my understanding filled. Quickly. By the time I hit the Crystal Lake shopping center, I was pulling into the lot to call my mother. All of it was a rush of realization: She knew I was flying, she knew more about the attack than I did, knew there was concern that dozens of planes were involved in this plot at that point. Indeed for the next two hours there was that sort of speculation, especially after the Pentagon was hit and the crash in western Pennsylvania.

Anyway, I told her I was OK, that I was headed home, and she told me as much as she knew about the crash. And then I went home, consoled my wife, turned on the television in the sun room… And watched for the rest of the day.

I couldn’t move. Literally. I know that sounds dramatic, but it isn’t. My brother worked in one of those towers for a few years. My father, my father-in-law, both commuted into midtown for most of their professional lives. I worked there as well, first for something called The National Sports Daily, and later as a correspondent for the New York Times and New York Post. I sat on that couch and watched for hours. People called to make sure I wasn’t in a plane. I can’t tell you who.

My daughter was in middle school at the time, and she knew I was flying that day. I never even thought to call her and tell her I was fine. I can’t tell you why. She had broken her foot playing soccer and when I went to pick her up that afternoon, she cried hysterically when she saw me, told me she thought I was dead. Other fathers had called to tell their daughters they were safe she said.

I’d like to have that one back.

 I offered to go up there for the paper but was told the city was in a lockdown mode, that we were only allowed a certain number. So I watched and watched and watched. I just could not fathom a tragedy of this, special-effects proportion magnitude.

 Growing up in North Jersey, I could never imagine coming over that hill on Route 3 heading into the city and not seeing those two towers amid that landscape. It is still an eery feeling when a movie about New York from the ‘90s or before shows up on television and those landmarks – which were more prevalent than even the statue of liberty – appear. It is still eery for me when I get to that part of the Jersey turnpike where they should be, and instead, see nothing but space.

My brother lost a few friends in Tower 2. One awful story he tells involves a meeting for bids on a project. When the first tower was hit, those in the second tower were  told to evacuate. Again, everything thought the first hit was just a bad accident. The woman running the bid meeting said that anyone who left could forget about winning the bid. We know this because a couple people did leave. But most did not.

Air travel was changed forever that day. We now enter most stadiums as if getting on a plane. Our computer bags are searched and scanned. Sometimes there are bomb dogs around. I remember taking my two young boys to Yankee Stadium for the World Series in 2001 and we were sitting way up top behind home plate. A few minutes before the start, these snipers emerged from one of the portals, ran single file up the concrete steps, climbed up a ladder that led to the famous façade. We watched as they fanned around the stadium and situated themselves, and their rifles in each opening. And Tim and Pat didn’t watch a lick of the game I think.

The first game after 9/11 was right here in Philadelphia, between the Braves and the Phillies at the old Veterans Stadium, and it was one of the most emotional events I’ve ever had to cover. Larry Bowa, old-school tough guy manager, wept when the anthem played. Players teared up during and afterwards, fans too, and most of the scribes in the press box.

It’s hard to remember too many of the details immediately afterwards. Except how immensely proud I was of the people in this country. They drove from Kansas and Texas and North Dakota to help. We went to the docks in Hoboken to load supplies and food. People wanted so badly to help. Every sports story I wrote felt silly for awhile, like I was dishonoring something by bothering with such matters.

 I assume most of you have seen the pictures, the footage, the pink sky, people covered with dust as if this was Hiroshima. If you are anything like I was at your age, it probably even gets categorized with all those other recent chapters of history in which photography and motion pictures exist, the A-bomb, Pearl Harbor, D-day, Vietnam and the awful carnage in Africa that continue through today. But none of those attacks occurred on this continent. And as you have probably learned through this course, that’s a game-changing difference.

My wife’s college roommate lives in Stratford. She’s one of those people who can get paralyzed by her fears, and I remember she blew off a reunion with other college friends two summers before because they were meeting at the top one of the Twin towers. We thought that was so funny. Sure, there had already been a bomb driven into the parking lot underneath the building but all it did was shake the building a bit. We thought she and her fears were silly.

We became her for awhile after 9/11. We feared everything and everyone. Anthrax was mailed to the offices of two senators and several media outlets, including NBC, and five people died as a result. Those with Middle Eastern looks or name were treated suspiciously or worse. Sarge, who runs the friendly 7-11 on Haddon Ave and who is from India, had his front window smashed. As I recall, speculation was that it  was done by a kid about your age.

But here’s what also happened after 9/11, something I wish we could somehow rediscover  as we honor those who perished that day. We actually stopped operating via fear. We stopped looking at each other as the enemy in our day to day dealings. People said hi more, slowed down for each other, made eye contact, hugged and – this one was a biggy – discussed their differences respectfully and rationally. At least for awhile.

For me, what 9/11 is all about, 10 years later, is that: Not succumbing to fear, any fear. Fear of lost wealth… status… jobs… friends ……. and, above all, death or injury.

It is about the pursuit of selflessness, of being part of something bigger than your own little world and of treating each other not as intruders but as allies, regardless of how different we look or how different our politics and predispositions.

Liberal, conservative, the irony of that awful event was how close it made us all feel to each other. I naively thought it would last the rest of my life, certainly longer than 10 years. It hasn’t. But then again, I could never have imagined what would occur in those 10 years – the divisive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that renewed our distrust in government, the health care debate and banking misdeeds that fueled extremist opinions on both sides of the spectrum and prodded us to treat each other as enemies. It’s disappointing to say the least. I hope you guys work to change it.

EAST RUTHERFORD -- I knew a kid who was a backup quarterback. The problem was that when he went in, so did all the other second-string guys. Once, he took a snap on his own one-yard line and disappeared instantly for what seemed like a good hour.

At the least, it seemed long enough that suffocation could be an issue.

Eventually enough bodies were peeled off the top to reveal portions of his still intact and moving body. The point is that it was hard to figure if he could play the position given the circumstances, which is another way of saying that last night’s final exhibition game between the Jets backups and the Eagles backups did little to move the speculative to the informative.

Except, maybe, in the case of Vince Young.

Vince looked good in last night’s 24-14 Eagles victory. Again. Before he left late in the second quarter of the with what was described as a strained right hamstring, he completed 15 of 23 passes for 193 yards, adding to a solid and promising preseason that should quell some of the what-if jitters fans and media expressed after Michael Vick signed his six-year, $100 million deal this week.

He led the Eagles into scoring position during their first two possessions, including a 91-yard touchdown drive. He feathered passes, showed nice touch, ran the offense. He did this against the likes of Jamaal Westerman and Martin Tevaseu, with players such as Julian Vandervelde and Fenuki Tupou blocking for him.

Which is to say he performed with and against rookies and backups.

Still, he took a few big hits, used his 6-5, 230-pound frame to fend off one blitzer and complete a pass, threaded a 16-yard touchdown pass to Chad Hall in the middle of the end zone, might have even accumulated bigger numbers had Riley Cooper or Clay Harbor held onto tough catches.

Vince Young. Mike Kafka. Both have done well with and against the scrubs this season. One gives you athletic plays and a better-than-average arm. The other has a better grasp of the voluminous Eagles playbook, a little more accuracy perhaps, less mobility, a little less zip for sure.

The way both men were almost injured last night is a clear indication of why it will be Young, not Kafka, who goes on the field should the $100 million man pull his own muscles on a rollout, or be victimized by a few missed assignments by his still under-construction offensive line.

There’s even an uncanny déjà vu to it all, especially when Kafka was slammed to the ground last night and got up slowly. And while Young’s past in no way resembles Vick’s, he came to the Eagles a discarded and somewhat disgraced superstar, injuries and ineffectiveness costing him confidence and his starting job in Tennessee, his petulance and pouting costing him respect among some teammates and peers.

That perception is changing. Rather fast.

``I just want to make sure I’m taking care of my responsibilities as a quarterback with preparation and transferring everything from the practice field and the film room to the game,’’ Young said this week. ``I just want to go out there, manage the game, put points on the scoreboard, and show the coaches that I’m a good backup quarterback.’’

He did more than that last night. He showed them they might just be able to survive $100 million in lost assets if they have to.

Video: The Daily News' Sam Donnellon wraps up the Red Sox and Phillies three-game series with CineSport's Noah Coslov and The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo.

Daily News columnist Sam Donnellon chats live about the Phillies and his column on Jayson Werth in today's paper, as part of the Hot Button at 11 a.m. today.

If you're on a mobile device, click here to follow along and send in questions.