Either way, the Phillies were getting a quality closer who can secure the leads given to them by their stud starting rotation — when the offense helps give them said leads.

Ruben Amaro was never going to let his investment in Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and, presumably, Cole Hamels rest on the arms of unproven youngsters. That last sentence is why the Phillies signing of former Red Sox closer Papelbon should not come as a surprise. The fact is, the soon-to-be-31-year-old is far more accomplished in his role than Madson was.

Looking at the two guys, the are very similar in almost every area. Both will be 31 when spring training arrives. Madson had 32 saves to Paps 31 in 2011. Madson had a 2.37 ERA to Paps 2.49. Madson appeared in 62 games to Paps 63. Both were premier free agents at their positions.

Jonathan Papelbon brings 219 career saves to the Phillies, If the team couldn't get Madson at a reasonable number, Papelbon was the best option.

Having said all of that, Papelbon has something that Madson doesn’t — a body of work as the closer. Papelbon has been closing for six years and has 219 saves to show for it. Madson just wrapped up his first year as the closer — and that only happened after Lidge and Jose Contreras suffered major injuries.

If the Phillies were so sure about Madson’s ability to be THE MAN in the ninth, do they even go after Contreras? Maybe since their bullpen lacked veterans. However, make no mistake about the fact that Contreras was the insurance policy for Lidge.

Madson had been given his chances in the past. Dude had 24 blown saves in 44 opportunities. His conversion rate was less than 50 percent. He had blown six of 16 the year before.

Does that sound like a shutdown closer?

Look, the guy had a solid 2011 campaign and he likely has turned the corner. He has been a Phillie his whole career and the team likely wanted him back. Something tells me the 4-year, $44 million deal the sides “agreed” to this week never was an option. Scott Boras probably wants Madson to ink the richest contract for a closer in MLB history. Maybe the Nationals give it to him.

For the Phillies, the apparently have agreed to a 4-year, $50 million deal with Papelbon. They’re getting a guy who they know is a closer, not one who they think has turned the corner for the long haul.

Amaro couldn’t have done much better; he could have done much worse.

If Jimmy Rollins truly is hellbent on getting a five-year guarantee during his free-agent whirlwind tour come December, then the Phillies clubhouse leader won’t be back. That’s ancient news in this Internet age.

Should the guy who changed the culture in the Phillies organization truly exit, what do the Phillies do? How do they fill the void in the lineup? Short of oft-injured and sure to be overpaid Jose Reyes — and the Phillies can only have so many $20-plus million a year guys — there are no great options at shortstop. Good options exist, but not great ones. Maybe you can get a one or two-year stopgap to assess Freddy Galvis a bit more.

Maybe Marco Scutaro or Rafael Furcal come here. Even if they do, they are older and on the decline. Scutaro can still hit close to .300 and his approach may be what the Phillies want. Furcal isn’t an effective everyday guy anymore at the plate. His best years recently have come when he’s played 80-90 games. In 2010, he hit .300 in 97 games. Maybe a combination of him and Michael Martinez fills the void.

If the Phillies do indeed move on from Rollins, the void needs to be filled elsewhere — at third base. His name is Aramis Ramirez.

We’re not ready to write off Placido Polanco just yet. The double sports hernia affected him at the plate. The guy doesn’t go from a .300 hitter to an automatic out overnight. Still, he’s never been a power guy and the Phillies need one.

Ramirez is a potential free agent as he and the Cubs hold a mutual $16-million option for 2012. Whether or not Ramirez wants to search for another pay day or new team President Theo Epstein picks up the option is something to keep an eye on.

Aramis Ramirez would add power to the Phillies lineup.

The Cubs third baseman is coming off of a .306 and 26 home run season. He’d be the ideal five-hole hitter behind Ryan Howard. Except for 2010, the guy has hit .289 or higher ever year since 2003. Except for 2009, he’s launched at least 25 homers a year ever season since 2002.

Put Ramirez in this lineup with Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, and he likely at least equals those numbers.

Granted, Ramirz is 33 and a three-year deal puts the team in the same situation they are right now with Polanco. Still, the window to win is now. And, with the hopeful emergence of Galvis, the continued hope that Dom Brown “gets it” and the play of Vance Worley and the Phillies young gun bullpen, you hope you can afford a guy like Ramirez on the books in 2014.

Imagine a lineup of:
Victorino
Utley
Pence
Howard
Ramirez
Mayberry/Brown
SS
Chooch
Pitcher

Of course, the obvious question is what do you do with Polanco and his $6.5 million salary next year. You could use him as a supersub and the best PH in the NL. He also could be the answer to give the aging infield needed rest. Oh, and Utley can play first and Polly can man second until Howard is recovered.

Replacing Rollins won’t be easy, but upgrading another position in his absence might soften the blow.

Phillies pitcher Vance Worley took to Twitter late Saturday afternoon to reflect on his rookie season’s ending in 140 characters.

Thanks phillies fans for all the support this season. All we can do is work harder this offseason and try again next year.

While Jimmy Rollins may have thought the fans were quiet during Game 3, Worley appreciates the fans. And, let’s hope the players that remain with the organization really do work harder to improve.

Still, to lay blame at his feet isn’t fair. It just isn’t.

Unless your name was Halladay, Hamels, Madsen, Utley or Rollins — and you’re a member of the Phillies — you shoulder part of responsibility for the disappointing, heart-wrenching, punch drunk stupor the Red Pinstripe Nation suffered through on Friday night.

Yes, all eyes will focus on Howard, the $25-million per year slugger who watched strike three to end last year and followed that up with a .105 average in the NLDS this year. Following six RBI in his first two games, Howard ended on an 0-for-15 slump. Yeah, he likely saved Game 1 with his three-run bomb that opened the floodgates toward an 11-run outburst. After that, though, nothing.

Ryan Howard was awful in the NLDS, but so were 20 other guys. If you want to blame Howard, you better add 20 other names to that list.

But, it doesn’t help when your three-hole hitter — a guy brought in to juice up this offense — hits .211. Yes, Hunter Pence was clearly in a food coma. And, the guy charged with protecting The Big Piece — Shane Victorino — ended up hitting .316. But, that isn’t indicative of the series he had. His two-hit output Friday bumped him from the .250 he had hit through four games.

Ibanez, Polanco and Chooch? Don’t get your DailyPhiladelphian going.

And then there’s Roy Oswalt who pitched like a fourth starter — not the ace he is paid to be. And, Cliff Lee? Did he get on the flight home from Atlanta? A four-run cushion that he can’t hold? Dude gives up 12 hits in six innings? If he gets a pass, then Howard gets one.

The fact is Doc Halladay lost a game in which he showed why he is, in fact, the best pitcher in baseball and the right guy to be the leader of the Phillies staff. Cole Hamels was a Ben Francisco homer away from joining Halladay as a hard-luck loser, and he flashed the brilliance that could cause him to leave Philly if the team doesn’t want to pay three aces $20-plus million a year.

Free agent-to-be Jimmy Rollins hit .450 and Chase Utley hit north of .400 as well.

You want to blame Howard? Fine. But, you better add about 20 other names to that list.

Two names are synonymous with those teams over the last decade.

Albert Pujols. Jimmy Rollins.

For one of the two former NL MVPs, the end of an era could very well come on Friday. The player whose team fails to advance to the NLCS could very well be taking off his squad’s jersey for the last time. The players who make their line-ups tick are both free agents this winter. And, to say contract negotiations haven’t gone well in either case is an understatement.

JRoll is on record as saying there will be no “hometown discount.” Reports suggest he is hellbent on getting a five-year deal. The Phillies likely will not give him that, especially as the rest of the core is aging around him. The team needs to get younger and could look elsewhere, especially considering the offensive funk it’s been in for two years.

Jimmy Rollins and Albert Pujols could be donning their team's uniform for the last time Friday.

And, while Rollins is on fire with a better than .500 average this postseason, the fact remains that his average has been dismal in recent years.

As for Pujols, he is the man who makes the Cardinals line-up go. He is Cardinals baseball these days and a guy who has made the baseball fans in St. Louis forget about what Mark McGwire did to tarnish the team’s uniform.

In 11 seasons, Pujols has bashed 445 longballs with more than 1,300 RBI, while hitting .328. Yes a power hitter who hits for average. If Ryan Howard gets $25 million a year, what does Pujols command? And, can the Cars be able — or willing — to pay that? Or, could they let Pujols walk and get production from a Prince Fielder for less?

Whatever the outcome on Friday night, the likelihood that one franchise plays its last game with the face of its organization is the reality. In a day, we’ll know which era has potentially ended.

Sure, Halladay has not allowed a hit in 15 of his 17 innings in the LDS. And, in a Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park, there’s nobody in baseball you’d rather have on the hill when the Fightins battle the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Still, Doc can’t cure what’s ailing the Phillies by himself. Doctober will end if he doesn’t get some offense behind him. The fact remains that the Phillies are a Ben Francisco three-run bomb away from already being on golf courses.

Roy Hallday has been lights out in the NLDS the last two years. He gets the nod in Game 5, but needs support.

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley are getting on base. After them and Francisco’s longball, the Phillies are not getting the timely hits championship teams find a way to produce. Since exploding for 11 runs in the series opener on Saturday, the Phils have scored just ten runs in the last three games. An average of 3.3 runs a game just won’t cut it. Not when Albert Pujols is on fire and the batters around him are getting hits when they count.

This is the same formula that spelled doom and gloom in the 2010 NLCS. The Phillies had three stud aces in Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. They have the same this year with Cliff Lee replacing Oswalt, who is acting like a No. 3 pitcher this year.

The bottom line is that the Phils pitchers have been who we thought they were with one exception. Cliff Lee got rocked in his lone outing this series. Oswalt pitched as he had all year — inconsistently. He sat down five batters on strikes in the first three innings and then nobody else after that.

Hamels was a stud in Game 3 and received run support only from Francisco.

Doc was Doc after giving up a three-run bomb to Lance Berkman.

When you look at the lines, you’d have expected the Phillies to be 2-2 in the series — and they are. But, a timely hit here or there and this series is over. Or, if Francisco doesn’t go all Matt Stairs on the Cards, the series is over with a wasted outing by Hamels, which we’ve become accustomed to.

Yes, the Phillies hitters are not who we thought they were outside of JRoll (.563)and Utley (.462). The next productive hitter is Hunter Pence, which you’d expect., His .267 average is not what you want to see. Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez are hitting .250 this series. None of the other regulars are above .200, and Ryan Howard is batting just .133.

Yes, pitching wins. But, you have to hit and give some run support. Short of going all Cliff Lee from the plate on Friday, Doc Halladay can’t do it alone. The Phillies need to manufacture runs.

“I’m putting it out there now…. I am a Niner’s fan!!!!”

On one hand, we love the fact that the Bay Area homeboy supports his home team. On the other, we can’t support your childhood loyalty, Jimmy. That 49ers loss better be the only one you suffer Sunday…

For one day at least, the Phillies were winners again.

Following an eight-game losing streak, the Fightins leave New York with a 9-4 win that hopefully builds into momentum going toward the playoffs.

THE POSITIVES

1. Doc Halladay threw six innings of scoreless, four-hit baseball. His strikeout numbers weren’t there (3), but it’s good to see Doc being Doc in his last regular season outing.

2. Carlos Ruiz. The guy has been on a tear as the Phillies head toward October. It’s not a huge surprise as Chooch has made his mark at the plate in October for the Fightins. The guy was hitting .259 on August 16. Today, he sits at .282.

Carlos Ruiz has been on a tear for the Phillies as the team heads toward his favorite month.

3. Hunter Pence continues to beast on opposing pitchers, maintaining his .313 average with three hits, including a homer and triple on Sunday.

4. Jimmy Rollins, who had three hits and scored twice on Sunday.

5. Ryan Howard who added two hits in three at-bats.

THE NEGATIVES

1. Antonio Bastardo who continued his late-season slump on the mound by giving up three runs in one-third of an inning. The Phillies need him to be the stud set-up man for Ryan Madson in October. Right now, he doesn’t look like it.

2. Shane Victorino who got one hit in six at-bats on Sunday. The Phillies MVP as of a few weeks back has seen his average drop from .314 on August 22 to .278 as of Sunday night.

The excuses end now. No matter what the Phillies have wrapped up and how long ago they did it, no matter what players are on the bench, you can’t have a seven game losing streak, including five in a row to the Triple-A lineups of the Washington Nationals and New York Mets.

What once seemed a certainty — winning 100 games and setting a franchise record for victories (101) — are now in the distance. With a 98-59 record, the Phillies have to win three of their last five games to tie the record. They way they have — or, actually, have not — been hitting is now a concern.

The team’s 2-1 loss in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Citi Field is the proverbial last straw. Getting no-hit by R.A. Dickey for six innings is unacceptable. Sure, the Fightins ended up tagging him for three hits and a run in the seventh, en route to banging out five hits in the game. But, too little too late is a recurring theme lately.

The Phils once again floundered a masterful pitching performance by Ace 1-B Cole Hamels, who allowed a single run on four hits over seven innings.

Again, a recurring theme.

Sure, we can sit here and make ourselves feel better by pointing to the fact that the Phillies are playing out the string and that injuries and R&R for certain players have taken apart the team’s line-up.

Those are excuses that now need to stop. This team has won a lot on pitching along with timely hitting. The pitching is still there. The hitting is another story.

The team has crossed the plate just 13 runs in the last seven games, a clip just north of two runs a game. Take out their 7-5 loss on Wednesday and it’s eight runs in six games.

And enough with the line-up theory. This team’s been bange up all year, yet has still won with players like Michael Martinez, John Mayberry and Wilson valdez manning starting spots.

In Saturday’s first game, the only regular missing was Hunter Pence. Granted, he’s the most consistent hitter right now, but you still need to get more than a run off of the Mets. And, you certainly need to beat the Mets when Hamels gives up one run in seven innings.

Are the Phillies still the favorite to get to, and win, the World Series? Yes. Are there reasons to be at least a bit concerned and to stop making excuses now? You better believe it.

Yeah, there was that minor hiccup in Houston, but this team was cruising.

Now, however, there is a small reason for concern. Since taking six straight games against the Braves and Brewers, the Phillies are 4-6. Save a doubleheader sweep against the Marlins in the Hurricane Irene make-up, and the Phillies lost two-of-three in Houston and three-of-four to the Cardinals. This is their worst stretch of the season and you don’t want that heading toward October.

The Phillies may find themselves in a battle with the Cardinals come October.

And, with each passing day, the Cradinals — and the Giants — inch closer to unseating the Braves for the Wild Card spot. Yes, your Phillies could very well face these red hot Cards in the first round of the playoffs. The Braves once commanding lead is down to 3 games, pending the Braves-Marlins final on Monday.

Do you want to face a hot team, a team that has just shown it can play with you, in a best-of-five series?

The Cards are gaining confidence in themselves, and against the vaunted Phillies rotation. The Phils lost games started by Vance Worley, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay. Their lines in those games:

Worley: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 K
Hamels: 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 9 K
Halladay: 8 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 6 K

Obviously, the fact that the Phillies gave the starters no run support is the major issue. Just five runs over 29 innings in the three losses isn’t going to get the job done. Take away two runs in the ninth on Monday, and you’re talking three runs in 28 innings in the three losses.

Chris Carpenter, Kyle Loshe and the Cards have a decent staff if you didn’t notice. They’re not the Four Aces, but if they can keep the Phillies from getting timely hits, that can be a problem. See 2010 vs. the Giants.

Look, the 2011 Phillies are a hundred win team. With the adrenaline pf the playoffs and the frenzied atmosphere in South Philly, the Fightins will likely beat anyone in the opening round.

But, the Cardinals wouldn’t be a pushover and a sweep likely wouldn’t happen.