St. Louis @ Philadelphia preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 5, 2011 ) Philadelphia 3, St. Louis 5

THE STORY: Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter are former teammates and good friends. While the ex-Toronto Blue Jays hurlers will likely continue to exchange Christmas cards, each would like to get the better of the other in Game 5 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Friday. Although the Philadelphia Phillies owned baseball's best mark with a franchise-record 102 wins this season, anything less than a World Series will be considered a disappointment in the City of Brotherly Love. For their part, the St. Louis Cardinals won 23 of their last 32 to secure the wild card on the last day of the season.

TV: 8:37 p.m. ET, TBS

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Chris Carpenter (0-0, 12.00 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Roy Halladay (1-0, 3.37 ERA)

Carpenter's maiden attempt at pitching on three days' rest didn't go so well. The former Cy Young Award winner labored through three innings, permitting four runs on five hits while walking three in Game 2. For the 36-year-old Carpenter, it was just his second loss in seven postseason decisions. Now on his normal rest, Carpenter will look to take his best shot against Philadelphia, against which he has posted a 7-2 career mark.

Halladay overcame a shaky start to retire 21 consecutive batters as the Phillies raced to an 11-6 home win in Game 1 on Saturday. After yielding a three-run homer to Lance Berkman in the first inning, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner didn't allow another hit after Skip Schumaker singled to lead off the second. Halladay allowed three runs on as many hits in eight innings. All told, Halladay is 3-1 in the postseason since coming over from Toronto.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS: St. Louis staved off elimination by overcoming an early two-run deficit to post a 5-3 win in Game 4 on Wednesday. After his two-run double gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, Gateway City native David Freese deposited a fastball from Roy Oswalt over the fence in center field for a two-run shot in the sixth. After being sidelined with a hand injury, Matt Holliday returned to the starting lineup and scored twice. Schumaker exited Game 4 with a left hamstring cramp, but is expected to play on Friday. St. Louis is 10-5 in postseason series which have extended to the limit.

ABOUT THE PHILLIES: Philadelphia collected two runs on three hits in the first seven pitches of Game 4. Unfortunately for the Phillies, they went 4-for-29 with four singles the rest of the way. Jimmy Rollins continued his strong postseason with his second consecutive 2-for-4 effort and fourth straight multi-hit effort of the series. Home cooking wasn't kind to Ryan Howard. The St. Louis native went 0-for-8 with five strikeouts in Games 3 and 4 at Busch Stadium. Howard will need to do better if the Phillies hope to advance to their fourth straight NLCS.

FINAL PITCH: The last time Philadelphia has played in the maximum length of a series was 1981, when it lost to the Montreal Expos in the Eastern Division playoffs.