In an almost unprecedented night of two winner-take-all games in the NL, the Milwaukee Brewers edged the Arizona Diamondbacks to move on to the NLCS. In the late game, aces Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay clash as the Cardinals and Phillies battle to see who faces the Brewers.
BOX SCORE: Brewers 3, D'backs 2 (Final - 10)
BOX SCORE: Cardinals 1, Phillies 0, bottom 8 STORY: Nyjer Morgan utters expletive during interview Reporters at both games will weigh in all evening, so follow along as we set the NLCS field.
(All times PM ET). *** 10:49: Before tonight, there have been only two 1-0 sudden-death games.
10:46: Now, it's Belushi coming to the rescue on scoreboard: "Over, did you say over?"
10:45: Cardinals, if you're counting, have 13 walk-off losses this year.
10:45: Halladay has thrown 126 pitches, should be done for the night.
10:44: Wow...And he flies out deep to left as crowd holds breath.
10:42: Strikes him out on his 121st pitch. Huge, to say the least. And here is Holliday.
10:41: Beautiful sac bunt by Jay. Now, pitch to Pujols or walk him? They are walking him, bringing up Berkman, who has hit 2 home runs off Halladay.
10:38: Bad move by catcher Ruiz on Furcal's fielder's choice. Capenter safe at second. Now, Halladay has got problems with Jay, Pujols, Berkman and Hollliday up.
10:36: Carpenter opens eighth with single to center.
10:28: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel takes a gamble and lets Howard swing away on 3-0 pitch. He flies to right. Gamble fails. Phillies have eight outs left to score a run.
10:26: And here comes the Rocky theme song to jazz up this crowd.
10:23: Halladay does his job in the seventh, gives up two-out single to David Freese, and strikes out Nick Punto.
10:20: Isn't it ironic that the Phillies were the ones responsible for the Cardinals making the postseason, beating up the Braves while losing to St Louis, and the Cardinals could be repaying them by knocking Phillies out.
10:17: Berkman provides a scarre with ball hit to deepest part of CF that Victorino hauls in.
10:14: Pence goes down meekily...The Cardinals have managed to shut him down since the first two games. Bob Nightengale: "This place is eerily quiet."
10:12: Utley thrwon out at second base on a curveball that Pence just watched. Perfect throw from Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.
10:10: Chase Ultey gets on base with ball hit past second baseman Nick Punto. Bob Nighengale says: "Something tells me this could be a big inning."
10:05: Halladay takes his turn, and does his 1-2-3 act. No Cardinal has reached third base since the first inning, and only one run has reached second. Halladay has retired 16 of the last 18 batters he's faced. 9:59: Another easy 1-2-3 inning for Carpenter. Pitching as well as he has all season.
9:53: Huge double play. Carpenter bunts right in front of plate, and doens't move. Furcal flies out to LF, and this great pitching dual continues.
9:44: Ibanez drives ball to right-field warning track, but it dies.
9:42: Shane Victorino delivers another hit, first big threat of evening. Phillies have runners on first and third with two outs.
9:36: Schumaker actually leaves with right oblique tightness.
9:34: David Freese strikes out, leaving Molina stranded at second. This game is going to be as big a doozy as Brewers win over DBacks.
9:31: Schumaker, who had hamstring cramp in Game 4, apparently leaves with same problem.
9:28: Classic pitching duel. Jimmy Rollins ends inning by grounding out, but think ing it's foul, doens't run out of the box.
9:25: Jon Jay now comes in to play center field for St. Louis.
9:23: Rafael Furcal is the first player to have two triples in same postseason, according to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com
9:21: Another 1-2-3 inning. Albert Pujols strikes out. Halladay pitching like a man who's not going to give up another run.
9:16: Carpenter gets out of jam with Polanco ending inning with groundout to shortstop.
9:10: Phillies' Shane Victorino has the fans waving towels and dancing in the aisles with one-out double.
9:04: Halladay settles down nicely, easy 1-2-3 inning 8:54: Bob Nightengale says from Philadelphia: "The big question: Does the Brewers' party end before this game ends? The Brewers must sit tight not knowing whether they will have to travel to Philly or stay home." 8:53: And the Phillies escape inning with no further damage. Halladay, however, throws 33 pitches
8:53: Morgan blows off TBS' Sam Ryan (and utters an expletive) in postgame interview. "I got nothin' for ya, Sam," he says, heading to the clubhouse to celebrate. Or perhaps that was Tony Plush? 8:52: From Philadelphia, Bob Nightengale wonders: "Was that Nyjer Morgan or Tony Plush who just drove in game-winner?" 8:51: Great game and finish to terrific series. Blue confetti flying from upper deck. There will be no stopping Tony Plush now.
8:49: Morgan grounds single to center. Gomez scores. Brewers pile on at the mound. 8:48: In Milwaukee, Morgan didn't offer at bunt, but ball kicked away from Blanco so there was no throw to second. Not a passed ball because runner was going on the pitch. 8:47: In Philadelphia, Lance Berkman reaches on catcher interference, one of the rare times you'll see it in postseason play. 8:47: Morgan misses bunt, but Gomez setals second. 8:45: In Milwaukee, Gomez lines a one-out single to left in the bottom of the 10th. 8:44: Chase Utley makes great play, throws out Schumaker at third base on grounder. 8:43: Citizens Bank Park got quiet in a hurry. Skip Schumaker, a surprise starter in center field, doubles, scoring Furcal
8:42: Cardinals-Phillies Game 5 is underway in Philadelphia, Rafael Furcal, who is doing wonders to his free agent value, leads off with triple. 8:41: Counsell, Gomez and Morgan up for Brewers against J.J. Outz in 10th. 8:39: A 1-2-3 inning for Axford, an inning too late. 8:36: Axford stays in for Brewers in 10th, retires first two hitters routinely. Pinch-hitting is former Brewer Lyle Overbay. 8:31: We are going to extra innings. Daniel Hernandez has a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Lucroy, and it's 2-2 after nine. 8:28: Hairston hits it on the button to lead off the ninth, but it's just a fly ball to left for the first out. Betancourt and Lucroy to follow, against Daniel Hernandez.
8:24: Betancourt outraces Upton to second for the force to end the inning. He is upended in the process and shaken up. Blanco hit the slow roller up the middle. The safer play was probably to first because Blanco doesn't run well. If Upton had beaten Betancourt to the bag, the go-ahead run would have scored from third.
8:23: Axford just might escape from this with no more damage. With one out and two on, he gets Justin Upton on a weak grounder to the mound for a fielder's choice. Two outs, runners at the corners, Henry Blanco up.
8:19: Squeeze. And a tie game! Bloomquist lays nice bunt down first base line. Axford and Fielder can't make a play as they tumble. Bloomquist on first with bunt single and Dbacks' biggest RBI of the year. It was a perfect bunt. Safety squeeze. 8:16: The bunt is taken off, and voila! Sean Burroughs bloops a single to short left. Not enough to score Parra. First and third, no out. Axford hasn't blown a save since April 18. It will be a tall order to keep that intact.
8:13: Gerardo Parra, 0-for-17 in the series, leads off the ninth with a double in the right-center field gap. First pitch. Tying run at second and nobody out with Sean Burroughs up trying to bunt. 8:09: We are going to the ninth, and it's a one-run game. Brewers out in order in 8th. The season is on the line for both as Axford comes in to loud cheers.
8:03: VERY tense moments for the 44,000-plus Brewers faithful. The sign of relief after the bases-loaded, eighth-inning situation nearly blew open the roof. John Axford up in the pen for Brewers, of course. His last blown save was in April. 8:01: Ryan Roberts bounces into a force play. K-Rod escapes the inning. Brewers lead 2-1 midway through the 8th, three outs from the NLCS.
7:58: It's now bases-loaded, two out as K-Rod walks Chris Young on a full-count pitch. Ryan Roberts -- author of a Game 4 grand slam -- is at the plate. 7:52: Some hot water for K-Rod. Montero's single past a diving Fielder puts runners at first and third for the D'backs with one out. David Hernandez pitching the ninth for Arizona. Sean Burroughs in at third for DBacks, batting ninth. Puts him up second in top of ninth. Henry Blanco catching, batting fourth. 7:45: The D'backs are not going quietly. Reliever Bryan Shaw strikes out the side in the seventh. K-Rod in to pitch the 8th for the Brewers. Carlos Gomez now playing center, with Morgan moving to right and Hart out. 7:33: Saito's 1-2-3 inning gets Milwaukee through 7 .... Remember, Brewers have not blown a lead after 7 innings since they acquired K-Rod at the all-star break.
7:27: The pitching lines for the starters are darn near identical. Kennedy: Six innings, five hits, two earned runs, two walks, five strikeouts. Gallardo: Six innings, six hits, one earned run, two walks, five strikeouts. K-Rod up for the Brewers, Saito in.
7:22: Both starting pitchers will be out. Lucroy strikes out to end the sixth as Kennedy limits the damage to one run. Brewers lead 2-1. Saito in to pitch for Milwaukee. Looks like Geoff Blum will bat for Kennedy, up second in the 7th inning.
7:21: And finally, the Brewers take their first lead. After a terrible at-bat in the fourth, Betancourt lines a single to center to score the go-ahead run. Another demonstration of how he drives managers batty. Two on, Kennedy not out of it yet. 7:17: Chris Young's phenomenal over-the-head catch of Hairston's shot at the warning track in dead center saves a run, probably two. It looked for certain the ball would sail over Young's head, but he ran it down.
7:12: Rickie Weeks continues his rough series, popping up a sacrifice bunt attempt. Now two on, one out in the sixth. 7:11: In Game 1, there were two outs in the seventh when Fielder homered off Kennedy. This time, Kennedy didn't give him much to hit. Pitched around him, walking him on four pitches. Bryan Shaw up in the D'backs bullpen.
7:10: With first base open, Kennedy will pitch to Fielder -- again. Little different situation than in Game 1, though, when Fielder hit a key two-run homer to extend Milwaukee's lead. 7:08: Braun lines first pitch into the left-field corner for a lead-off double. MVP, MVP. And here comes Prince Fielder. 7:07: It's a night for at least one breakthrough. Polish holds off late charge by Italian to win the sausage race, his first victory of the postseason.
7:04: With Kameron Loe now throwing in Brewers bullpen, Gallardo gets Ryan Roberts to bounce out to third, stranding runners at the corners. Still tied 1-1, to the bottom of the sixth.
7:01: With Goldschmidt running on 2-2 pitch, Young singles up the middle. First and third, two out. 6:58: Morgan gets a bad jump on Goldschmidt's liner to center and it drops in front of him for a single. That was Gallardo's 100th pitch, a mark he is no stranger to. At this stage, Roenicke will probably turn it over to his regular bullpen, not Greinke. Hawkins was stretching a few minutes ago.
6:50: Nyjer Morgan, with a 2-0 count, takes a huge cut, trying to hit the Bob Uecker sign just under the roof in RF. Must have been Tony Plush's Babe imitation. He ends up fouling out. Upton-Montero-Goldschmidt lined up to face Gallardo in the sixth.
6:45: Gallardo, his pitch count at 91, is bound for the sixth inning. Manager Ron Roenicke lets him hit for himself with one out and nobody on in the fifth. He's retired, but Corey Hart hits a two-out single up the middle. 6:40: Gallardo gets Aaron Hill to fly to deep left, and is safely through five innings. Brewers coming up as game remains 1-1
. 6:35: Kennedy singles to open the fifth against Gallardo. That's the Dbacks' pitcher's second good at-bat. However, it's followed by a tailor-made double-play ball off the bat of Willie Bloomquist. Now two outs, nobody on in the fifth. Gallardo is up to 88 pitches, and while there's nobody throwing in the Brewers bullpen, there's some stretching and other activity
. 6:30: It's all tied up on a weak pop fly to shallow right field by Jerry Hairston. The ball was caught by second baseman Aaron Hill, whose momentum prevented him from making a decent throw home. Nyjer Morgan scores, but Yuniesky Betancourt grounds out on the next pitch, demonstrating why he's drived numerous managers batty. The game is tied 1-1 heading to the fifth.
6:27: It keeps getting hotter for Kennedy. He plunks Rickie Weeks with a fastball in the ribs, and the bases are loaded with one out and Hairston at the plate.
6:25: For now, Ian Kennedy has passed his first major test of the night. First and third, nobody out and Game 1 foil Prince Fielder at the plate. But Fielder pops out to shallow left field. One out, first and third. 6:21 p.m.: Nyjer Morgan ignites the Miller Park crowd with a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth. 6:18: D'backs strand another runner in scoring position to end the fourth. Gallardo is at 79 pitches already. 6:15: That looks like Zack Greinke stretching, jacket off, in Brewers' bullpen. 6:10: Ian Kennedy looking like the 21-game winner today. He has retired nine of the 10 batters he has faced. 5:59: Justin Upton lines a 3-2 pitch into Dbacks' bullpen in right field. 1-0 Arizona in the third. 5:50: Kennedy, who is clearly sharper than Gallardo at this point, breezes through 1-2-3 second. No score after 2. 5:44: Gallardo is at 44 pitches after two innings. Remember, Brewers' No. 2 starter Zackh Greinke is available and on full rest.
5:41: Gallardo goes more to hard stuff in scoreless second. Gives up infield single to Ryan Roberts and a walk to No. 8 hitter Gerardo Parra, who reaches base for the first time in 16 plate appearances in the series. Kennedy lines out on 3-2 pitch to end the inning.
5:30: Prince Fielder can't catch up to Ian Kennedy's high cheese, strikes out to end the first. Red-hot Ryan Braun had lined a single to left but was stranded. Braun is now 8-for-16 in the series. 5:26: Bright sun coming through the side panels will make it very tough on the left fielders for a few innings. 5:20: Yovani Gallardo works through 20-plus-pitch first inning. After walking Justin Upton, he bounces two curve balls in the dirt to Miguel Montero (one a wild pitch), but ultimately gets him looking at a third strike to end the inning. 5:01: Bud Selig gets a nice hand in his hometown as he throws out the first pitch, but Robin Yount, the catcher, gets a louder ovation.
4:58: They're closing the roof at Miller Park. Perfect fall afternoon -- sunny, temps in mid 70s -- and we'll be indoors.
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