MLB Playoffs 2011: Ranking the Phillies' 5 Biggest Goats If They Blow the NLDS

The Philadelphia Phillies were the favorites to win the National League and the World Series by many the day they signed Cliff Lee. Their starting rotation of Lee, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt was being hailed as the greatest rotation in baseball history before the team even reported to spring training.

After an impressive 102-win regular season, the Phillies opened the postseason with a bang as they beat the Cardinals 11-6 in Game 1 of the NLDS.

However, with the Cardinals' victory on Wednesday, the series has been knotted up, and the teams will take the field on Friday in Philadelphia for a decisive Game 5.

If the Cardinals can pull off the upset, there will no doubt be more than a little finger-pointing going on in Philadelphia as far as who is to blame, and while a lot can change with what happens in Game 5, here are five guys who, to this point, can largely be blamed for the fact that the Phillies are facing elimination.

Placido Polanco

A steady presence in the Phillies' lineup whether he was hitting in the two-hole or near the bottom, Polanco batted .277, 5 HR and 50 RBI during the regular season.

Polanco struggled last year in the postseason, hitting just .207, and so far this year he has been even worse. After his 1-for-4 performance in Game 4 he raised his average to .125 as he has managed a pair of empty singles and little else.

Carlos Ruiz

Carlos Ruiz has quietly emerged as one of the best catchers in baseball over the past few seasons; his combination of offense and defense make him incredibly valuable.

With a career postseason line of .265 BA, 4 HR and 15 RBI, Ruiz has done some damage in October in the past—but so far this year he is just 1-for-14 in the playoffs, and the complete lack of production by Polanco and Ruiz at the bottom of the lineup has hurt the Phillies.

Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard is one of the game's best run producers, and because of that, his high strikeout rate is a bit easier to swallow. He has enjoyed tremendous success in prior postseasons with a .272 BA, 8 HR and 33 RBI for his career.

Howard started off his 2011 postseason with a bang as he homered and drove in four runs in the opening game.

However, he has just one other hit in the series and has struck out six times in 14 at-bats. He is not fulfilling his obligation as a RBI machine.

Cliff Lee

During the regular season, Lee put together two of the most dominant months of pitching in baseball history and effectively gave the Phillies the second ace they were looking for with a 17-8 record, a 2.40 ERA and 238 Ks.

However, after Roy Halladay secured the victory in Game 1, Lee had a chance to bury the Cardinals in the best-of-five series in Game 2, but came out flat and gave up five runs on a whopping 12 hits in just six innings.

Roy Oswalt

While the acquisition of Hunter Pence at the deadline this season certainly made a splash, the team made a similarly huge move last deadline with the Astros to acquire Roy Oswalt.

Oswalt did his part in the team's NLCS loss last year, making three appearances and posting a 1.84 ERA over 14.2 innings of work.

However, he laid an egg in his first postseason start of 2011 on Wednesday, as he gave up five runs on six hits in six innings, with David Freese hitting a two-run home run in the sixth off him to seal the win.

Oswalt had the ball with a chance to clinch the series and simply couldn't get the job done against a scrappy Cardinals lineup. If the Phillies do end up losing the series, there certainly will be more names to add to this list based on what happens in Game 5, but for now the duo of Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt are the goats of the series, as the Phillies' vaunted starting pitching has let them down.