Philadelphia vs. St. Louis
Game 1 {{Linescore||Date= October 1, 2011 |Time= 5:07 pm (
EDT) |Location=
Citizens Bank Park in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Cardinals struck first on
Lance Berkman's three-run home run off Phillies' starter
Roy Halladay in the first inning. The Phillies fought back on
Shane Victorino's RBI single in the fourth, and
Ryan Howard put Philadelphia ahead with a second-deck three-run shot in the sixth. Two batters later,
Raúl Ibañez hit a two-run homer to give the Phillies a three-run lead. Ibañez's homer was the decisive blow to Cardinals' starter
Kyle Lohse, who was out of the game after innings. Next inning, the Phillies loaded the bases on three singles with no outs off of
Marc Rzepczynski, who was then relieved by
Mitchell Boggs. After
Hunter Pence hit into a force out at home, Howard's sacrifice fly followed by RBI singles by Victorino and Ibañez made it 9–3 Phillies. Next inning,
Jimmy Rollins walked with two outs, then
Chase Utley doubled before both men scored on Pence's single. In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals scored three runs on
Adron Chambers' RBI single and
Skip Schumaker's two-run double off reliever
Michael Stutes, but closer
Ryan Madson struck out
Jon Jay and
Matt Holliday to seal the win for the Phillies.
Game 2 {{Linescore||Date= October 2, 2011 |Time= 8:37 pm (
EDT) |Location=
Citizens Bank Park in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Phillies scored early on RBI singles by
Ryan Howard and
Raúl Ibañez in the first inning.
Hunter Pence's single in the second scored
Jimmy Rollins and gave the Phillies a 4–0 lead. With
Cliff Lee on the mound, who was 7–2 in the postseason and 3–0 in the League Division Series, and
Chris Carpenter, who pitched on three days' rest, was out after three innings, things did not look good for the Cardinals. However, the offense started to do their work in the fourth, when
Ryan Theriot,
Jon Jay, and
Rafael Furcal each knocked in one run for the Cardinals. Jay singled again in the sixth to tie the game and
Albert Pujols' RBI single in the seventh gave the Cardinals the lead. The Cardinals' bullpen picked up where Carpenter left off, combined to throw six innings of scoreless, one-hit ball. Cardinals closer
Jason Motte pitched a four-out save to seal the win. This was the third consecutive postseason loss for Lee going back to the
2010 World Series.
Game 3 {{Linescore||Date= October 4, 2011 |Time= 4:07 pm (
CDT) |Location=
Busch Stadium in
St. Louis, Missouri After six scoreless innings from both starting pitchers, the Phillies sent
Ben Francisco to pinch-hit for
Cole Hamels, following an intentional walk to
Carlos Ruiz, and a single by
Shane Victorino. Francisco homered off the second pitch from
Jaime García over the left center wall to give the Phillies a 3–0 lead. In the sixth inning, a squirrel—soon to become more famous the next day under the name "
Rally Squirrel"—appeared in the outfield, causing a brief interruption in play. The incident was even immortalized in a promo for the "Legends are Born in October" ad campaign, complete with the background music set to the ads from that campaign,
Tinie Tempah's "
Written in the Stars." In the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals added a run with
Allen Craig scoring off an RBI single by
David Freese. In the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals were able to load the bases with one out, thanks to singles by
Ryan Theriot, pinch hitter
Matt Holliday, and
Rafael Furcal. However, the Cardinals were not able to capitalize, with Craig grounding out into an inning ending double play. In the bottom of the ninth, Pujols led off with his third double of the game. Following a flyout by
Lance Berkman and a ground out by Freese (which sent Pujols to third),
Yadier Molina singled to center, bringing Pujols home, and making it a one-run game. Theriot then grounded out to second to end the game, giving the Phillies a 2–1 series lead.
Game 4 {{Linescore||Date= October 5, 2011 |Time= 5:07 pm (
CDT) |Location=
Busch Stadium in
St. Louis, Missouri Before the second-largest crowd (47,071) in
Busch Stadium history, the Cardinals staved off elimination with a 5–3 home victory over the Phillies. The Phils struck first with two runs in the first inning off
Edwin Jackson.
Jimmy Rollins doubled and scored on a triple by
Chase Utley, who came home on
Hunter Pence's single to make it 2–0. The Cards cut the lead to 2–1 in the bottom half when
Lance Berkman doubled in
Skip Schumaker. Berkman advanced to third when
Shane Victorino misplayed the ball, but was unable to score. Meanwhile, Jackson settled down after the shaky first, allowing only two hits in the next five innings. The Cards took the lead on
David Freese's two-run double in the fourth, scoring Berkman and
Matt Holliday to make it 3–2, Cardinals. In the fifth inning, the
Rally Squirrel again appeared, crossing home plate as Oswalt was delivering a pitch to
Skip Schumaker. The pitch was called a ball, but Oswalt and manager
Charlie Manuel argued for "no pitch", which appeal was denied by home-plate umpire
Ángel Hernández. Schumaker then flied out, but the Rally Squirrel went on to become a
cause célèbre in St. Louis. St. Louis extended their lead to 5–2 in the sixth when Freese hit a two-run homer to the grassy area in center field. After that, the Cards' bullpen took it the rest of the way.
Arthur Rhodes pitched a 1–2–3 seventh, but
Fernando Salas ran into trouble in the eighth, allowing a run on a wild pitch to cut the Cardinals' lead to 5–3. The Phillies would bring the tying run to the plate in the form of St. Louis native
Ryan Howard later in the inning, but
Marc Rzepczynski struck out Howard to escape the jam. In the bottom half,
Albert Pujols batted against
Brad Lidge, a pitcher whom Pujols victimized with a three-run home run in the
2005 playoffs, when Lidge was with
Houston. Lidge, however, got Pujols to fly out to right.
Jason Motte got the save by retiring the Phillies in order in the ninth. Center fielder
Jon Jay made a sliding catch of a line drive by former Cardinal
Plácido Polanco for the final out.
Game 5 {{Linescore||Date= October 7, 2011 |Time= 8:37 pm (
EDT) |Location=
Citizens Bank Park in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Cardinals struck first in the first inning when leadoff batter
Rafael Furcal hit a triple and
Skip Schumaker followed with a double, but no other runs were scored with
Roy Halladay laboring through over 30 pitches in that inning. In the bottom of the fourth, the Phillies had runners at the corners with two outs. On a 3–2 count, batter
Raúl Ibañez got a cutter down the middle and hit it deep to right field. The TV camera focused on the right field stands, but would move down to show
Lance Berkman making the catch at the warning track. Halladay was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth after giving up six hits and one run, throwing 126 pitches, 87 for strikes. He walked one (intentional to
Albert Pujols), striking out seven.
Ryan Madson replaced Halladay in the ninth.
Chris Carpenter got
Ryan Howard to ground out to second, capping off a three-hit shutout. Howard tore his Achilles' tendon on that final play. This was considered the unofficial end of the Phillies mini-dynasty, which started in 2007. This was only the third "winner-take-all" game in postseason history to end in a 1–0 score (following Game 7 of the
1962 World Series and Game 7 of the
1991 World Series) This was the Phillies’ most recent postseason game until
2022.
Composite box 2011 NLDS
(3–2): St. Louis Cardinals over
Philadelphia Phillies ==Milwaukee vs. Arizona==