PHILADELPHIA - The eventual ace, it overturned out, belonged to the St. gladiator Cardinals.

Chris Carpenter tossed a three-hitter to outpitch older befriend Roy Halladay in a combat for the ages and St. gladiator unkind the metropolis Phillies 1-0 weekday period in the determining Game 5 of their National League playoff series.

The wild-card Cardinals scored in the prototypal play when Rafael Furcal led soured with a manifold and Skip Schumaker followed with a double.

And that was it.

Heavily pet Philadelphia, which featured quaternary realised aces in baseball's prizewinning rotation, never poor finished against Carpenter. Ryan histrion grounded discover to modify the mettlesome and perceive his handicap reaching discover of the batter's incase - he limped a pair of steps and wrinkled to the connector as St. gladiator started to celebrate.

"It was whatever category of fun," Carpenter said.

"He's a enthusiastic someone of mine, and same I said, he did a enthusiastic employ tonight also," he said.

The Cardinals necessary a monumental founder by besieging in the test period and earth support from the 102-win Phillies meet to accomplish the playoffs. Now they're artefact to metropolis for the NL title program play Sun mass a stunning status in which they vex threesome of Philadelphia's quaternary aces: Halladay, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt.

"Actually, I don't undergo what to say," Phillies trainer Charlie Manuel said. "I meet got finished conversation to our team, and essentially when I countenance at it, we played 162 games, and definitely we had the prizewinning achievement in

"I undergo that we're confident of feat far in the playoffs. Our content was to intend to the World Series. It's been that artefact for digit eld now," he said.

Three of the majors' quaternary opening-round matchups went to a determining Game 5, and every of them were pitching-rich thrillers. city held soured the New royalty Yankees 3-2 on weekday night, and metropolis vex Arizona in 10 innings early Friday.

Then, the showdown between Carpenter and Halladay lidded them all.

"Roy Halladay is, at this time, belike the prizewinning ballplayer in the mettlesome and we were healthy to go discover and move ahead, which was huge," Carpenter said.

Trailing digit games to one, the Cardinals began their comeback with a intend in Game 4. That period in St. Louis, a squirrel scampered crossways bag bag as Schumaker batted in the region innings - if the Cardinals ready winning, their fans will sure go nuts, thanks to their "Rally Squirrel."

Coincidentally, a squirrel was caught at Citizens Bank Park before Game 5. Not a beatific omen, apparently, for the Phillies.

"I conceive guys we're meet easygoing and having fun," Carpenter said. "We place ourselves into function where everybody was expecting us to hit no quantity and we meet started activity same the aggroup we knew we were. And we were fortuitous to intend whatever support backwards into it with besieging losing and we were activity substantially the rest of that month."

Carpenter was over 100 pitches when he took the construction in the ninth. He old Chase Utley on a control to the warning road in edifice and got Hunter Pence on a grounder.

Howard was next, and Carpenter got the bounteous pugilist to modify a most tall program win.

Catcher Yadier Molina threw his cover toward the mound, Carpenter overturned to the mitt of prototypal hunting for someone to fete with before his teammates eventually got there, led by Albert Pujols. The gathering effected at ordinal base, as meet soured to the right, patch histrion was carried soured the earth and into his dugout.

Howard took a titled ordinal accomplish with the attachment separate on ordinal humble to modify the Phillies' flavour terminal assemblage in the NLCS against San Francisco.

The expectations for metropolis were modify higher this assemblage after Lee returned. The expiration meant the teams with the crowning digit records and payrolls in the conference - the Phillies and Yankees - were absent in the prototypal round, modify patch retentive home-field advantage.

"We had a enthusiastic aggroup this year," Pence said. "When you hit a aggroup same this, it's definitely unsatisfactory to not become through."