For Philadelphia Phillies fans, Friday went about as poor as could be expected. Chris Carpenter threw a complete game shutout to eliminate the Phillies from the postseason and Ryan Howard went down with an injury that could keep him out of action for a significant amount of time.

Howard's left leg gave out as he tried to leave the batter's box after dribbling a grounder to the right side of the infield for what turned out to be the final out of the Phillies' Game 5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals and had to be helped from the field. Following the game, reporters were told it was an Achilles injury, with Howard set to undergo an MRI on Saturday to diagnose the severity.

Howard later told reporters he thinks he tore his Achilles, which would be the worst possible outcome for both him and the team. If it is, in fact, torn, Howard could miss the entire 2012 season while recovering and rehabbing from the injury. But again, the diagnosis has to be confirmed on Saturday.

Until then, the Phillies wait, and hold their collective breath while hoping for the best. We'll be back with more on Howard's injury as it becomes available in this StoryStream.