The whole discussion about this Phillies/Cardinals Game 5 is that the Phillies have Roy Halladay while the Cardinals don't, so the Cardinals need to hope that Chris Carpenter spins a gem.

Which, well, Chris Carpenter might need to spin a gem. The Cardinals would certainly like it if he were to spin a gem. But after half of an inning, Halladay has looked mortal, and the Cardinals have a lead.

A slim lead, but a lead. On the fourth pitch of the game, Rafael Furcal ripped a triple to center field - just the third leadoff triple Halladay has allowed in his career. That brought Skip Schumaker to the plate, and after falling behind 0-2, Schumaker worked a ten-pitch at bat before lining a double into right. Halladay hung a curve in the center of the zone, and Schumaker took advantage. That put St. Louis up 1-0.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn't do any more damage. Albert Pujols followed Schumaker with a grounder to second, where Chase Utley made the very heads-up decision to throw to third, where he nailed Schumaker trying to advance. Then, after a wild pitch and a catcher's interference call, both Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina made easy outs, stranding a pair of runners. More could have been done.

But some was done, and a lead against Halladay is a lead against Halladay. We'll see if he settles down after the first inning, the way he did in Game 1.