This was supposed to be their season. From the Opening Day hype surrounding the team's four pitching aces to the fervor that took hold as the team set a record with 102 regular-season wins, franchise faithful felt sure 2011 augured a return to baseball's championship series.
Instead, fate - or in this case, Cardinals' pitcher Chris Carpenter - dished out a disappointment that many fans ranked among the worst in the city's sports history:
It was at least as bad as "Black Friday," that heartbreaking 1977 playoff loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that dashed the dreams of a team billed as the best of its era, they said. It may have been worse than the Eagles' maddening 2005 Super Bowl defeat at the hands of the New England Patriots.
Heck, said Kenneth Martus, it even rivaled Rocky Balboa's gut-wrenching loss to Apollo Creed after 15 rounds.
Wasn't a little grieving in order?
Martus, 48, thought so as he stood in line waiting to check out at the Modell's Sporting Goods on Chestnut Street in Center City.
"I'm in mourning," he said, explaining the black Phillies jersey draped over the hanger in his hand.
Others turned to more traditional means to process their anguish.
Buddy Neels clung to denial. Long after the last out left slugger Ryan Howard limping off the field with a possibly torn Achilles tendon, Neels, a 33-year-old from Philadelphia's Juniata section, lingered in the stands. He didn't feel like moving. He couldn't believe what had happened.
"All the hype? 102 wins? They can't even make it past the first round of the playoffs," he said. "It boggles my mind."
By that time, Matt Kirk had moved on to anger.
