Kuzul

From an immediate perspective, the most important storyline from Friday’s Cardinals vs. Phillies game was the end result. Philadelphia was favored by most people to win the World Series, but they will be watching the NLCS and World Series from home.

The second most important storyline was that Phillies’ slugger Ryan Howard suffered what appeared to be a very serious injury on the game’s final play.

Now, we don’t know the extent of the injury just yet. Still, Achilles’ injuries are very serious. Howard himself believed that it was a torn Achilles, which could have him sidelined for a year.

Since his first full season in the league (2006), Howard has averaged nearly 44 homers and and 133 RBI. His production has tapered a little bit in the last few seasons, but he is still one of the game’s premier sluggers.

If the injury is as bad as expected, Howard will miss anywhere between six and 12 months. That would have him missing some or all of the 2012 season.

Still, Philadelphia will be okay, and they are still the favorites in the National League East.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at the pitching rotation: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, and Vance Worley. While the bullpen could use some work, that is a vaunted pitching rotation that will keep them in any game they play.

Offensively, they still have stars like Chase Utley, Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, and possibly Jimmy Rollins to produce runs. Even if Rollins goes, that’s not exactly a lineup with a lot of easy outs.

Lastly, first base is a position with some depth. You can pick up a first baseman for relatively cheap in free agency that will go a long way in making up for some of Howard’s lost numbers.

Any way you slice it, Howard’s loss is going to hurt. Even if his playoff production has been less than stellar, his offensive numbers are just massive, even in down years. In his six full seasons, Howard has never failed to hit 30 home runs or drive in 100 runs.

But even without Howard’s presence in the middle of the order, Philadelphia is still a playoff team in 2012.

Of course, the hot stove season could change that, but it’s hard to see a division rival improving enough to scare the Phillies.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

As a Giants fan, this is painful for me to watch. It’s not that the Giants deserved to win the division, because they certainly didn’t. Still, you never want to see your division rivals beat you to dethrone you as the division champs.

But going beyond my own personal rooting interests, this is actually great to see. The baseball season is a long haul.

So, when a team surprisingly wins their division, it’s nice to see them cut loose and act like a kid, even if only for a few minutes.

After all, they are about to enter the postseason, which is grueling and intense. It’s refreshing to see a team take a nice break before entering that run.

What’s also refreshing is to see a team show genuine joy in winning the division. Too often, we see teams like the Yankees win the division and react like they just won a spring-training game.

The truth is, winning the division is a big deal and it should be celebrated. If you happen to play in a stadium that has a pool readily available, why not go jump in it? Actually, it makes me wish that the Giants had jumped into McCovey Cove after clinching last season’s division title.

I’ll be interested to hear the comments that come out of this.

I really don’t want to hear people say that the Diamondbacks disrespected the game or their opponents by doing this.

They won the division; they earned the right to jump in the pool.

There is only one problem with this: If they actually win a playoff series and happen to clinch at home, how do they follow up on this one?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

While no Giants’ fan will ever forget the playoff and World Series run that the team had in 2010, it means nothing in 2011.

Many factors will dictate whether or not the Giants have another successful run in 2011. Some of them had successful runs in 2010, some were just good when it mattered, while others were a bit disappointing. What they all have in common is that they are all important to the Giants and their chances of becoming the first National League team to repeat since the Reds of 1975 and 1976.

Begin Slideshow