Jeff Suppan was roughed up for 5 runs in 3.0 innings of work, not exactly living up to his playoff hero billing.  Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home-run, Pat Burrell hit a 3-run blast in the 3rd, and Jayson Werth hit one of his own right after, giving the Phils an insurmountable 5-0 lead.  The Brewers offense did next to nothing against Joe Blanton, and Prince Fielder’s solo blast in the 7th (Milwaukee’s only round-tripper of the Post Season) and Ryan Braun’s RBI single in the 8th provided the only runs.  Ever the battlers throughout 2008, the Brewers’ hopes finally died on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park before an energetic, but obviously stunned, crowd 43,934.  CC Sabathia made likely his last appearance in a Brewers’ uniform, pinch-hitting in the 3rd inning and striking out.  Burrell hit another off of Guillermo Mota in the 8th, putting any hope of a Milwaukee comeback to rest.  Brad Lidge didn’t earn a save, but shut down the Crew in the 9th, sending his club to the NLCS.

Offensive MVP: Phillies LF Pat Burrell (3-4/2R/2HR/4RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Phillies SP Joe Blanton (6.0IP/5H/1ER/0BB/7SO/1HR/Win-1st)

Alex’s Take:

This was an ugly game, but 2008 was a tremendous step forward for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club.  Jeff Suppan should shoulder a lot of the blame for the loss, but the offense had been hand-cuffed all series long, and couldn’t come through when they needed to.  The Crew is a very young team, though, so there is a good amount of hope on the horizon, providing the starting pitching, which should be very young, comes through.