Send Phillies to shop for repairs

ON THE TWO most gorgeous days and nights of 2011, the Russian Winter set in with brutal, unrelenting, emotional cold masquerading as warmth.

Black Friday 2 was followed by Nightmare Sunday.

It was the worst weekend in Philly sports history, a massive unmasking, the possible beginning of the end of one era of excellence and more irrefutable evidence that Andy Reid's Eagles reign could be approaching a time that is no longer his.

The punchless Phillies' shattering, 1-0, Game 5 NLDS loss to the Cardinals at the sullen Bank segued into another defeathering of the shockingly bad Eagles.

A week after Charlie Manuel's team was installed as a prohibitive favorite to advance to and win the World Series and a month after Reid's free agent-littered squad was dubbed a "Dream Team" by backup quarterback Vince Young, only one local pro sports team has a chance to deliver a 2011 title.

That would be an expansion MLS soccer team, the Union.

Because the Stanley Cup finals usually end in June, there is plenty of time to assess the Flyers. The Sixers? Looks like they won't be inflicting another season of midpack NBA hoops on us any time soon. Thank David Stern for small gifts.

So let's turn to the gaping wound that will gush Phillies blood for months to come.

And let's hit the worst news - even for his legion of haters - from the jump. The ruptured Achilles' tendon Ryan Howard suffered while bouncing into the final out of the imploded postseason is a catastrophic injury. He faces major surgery to repair the body's largest weight-bearing tendon, weeks and weeks either in a full cast or a heavy, rigid, boot that will give him a little more freedom and help prevent atrophy and muscle loss as he goes through months on crutches. While recovery times depend on the individual and the course of rehabilitation, 6 months is ballpark time before an athlete can begin weight-bearing activity. Nine months is an optimistic target for a major league baseball player's return to the lineup.

So, while the big orthopedic brains chart a course aimed at repairing and rehabbing the Achilles' of the most prolific run producer in franchise history, get used to the idea that the Phillies' offense in 2012 will bear little likeness to Charlie Manuel's preferred method of spurning the bunt, hit-and-run, squeeze and the kind of adventurous baserunning that got Chase Utley in trouble.