Phillies vs. Cardinals: Matt Holliday Injury Will Cost St. Louis NLDS

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday has been dealing with a nagging hand injury for a couple weeks, and now it appears the ailment will cost him the rest of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies, according to Hard Ball Talk. It's a loss that will end up costing St. Louis the series.

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Holliday was able to appear as a pinch-hitter in Game 1, but struck out on three pitches and Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that his chances of starting the final three games of the NLDS “appears to be diminishing rather than progressing as the club hoped when it placed him on the playoff roster.”

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Allen Craig has picked up one hit in two games while filling in for Holliday. He had a strong regular season, but his numbers were inflated by a high BABIP (batting average on balls in play). Coupled with a low walk rate means his OBP was due to fall back to Earth, and it has in this series.

Simply put, he's no Holliday.

The trio of Holliday, Lance Berkman and Albert Pujols gave the Cardinals a puncher's chance against the pitching-rich Phillies. Without the third member of the clan in the middle of the lineup, it will be difficult for St. Louis to generate enough runs over the last three games to prevail.

Philadelphia has remained the World Series favorite for a reason. They have four (five if you count Vance Worley) starters that can go out and shut down the opposing lineup. So even if you beat them one day, it's hard to generate enough offensive momentum to do it again.

St. Louis made a terrific September run to overcome the Atlanta Braves and reach this point. It would have been hard to imagine them keeping the magical run alive much longer due to Philadelphia's big pitching advantage in the last three games, even with Holliday.

Without him, it's the ultimate long shot.

Cardinal fans will argue the odds of winning the series pale in comparison to the minuscule chance analysts gave them of making the playoffs a month ago. That's true, but it's hard to imagine the Phillies rotation melting down like the Braves did in September.

Anything is possible, but if I had to place a bet, I'd say the Holliday injury was the final nail in St. Louis' playoff coffin.