Photos: 2008 Phillies
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A generic Major League Baseball transaction on Aug. 29 - just before the deadline that would keep players off a team's postseason roster - doesn't begin to tell the story. Matt Stairs, designated for assignment by Toronto, was traded to Philadelphia for a player to be named, who turned out to be unneeded pitcher Fabio Castro.
The rest of the story: So he could crush a home run that helped save the playoff series.
Stairs, who has played for 11 teams in 16 years, doesn't cut an impressive profile. He looks as if he belongs in a beer league. He turned 40 in February. He's what you'd call a situational hitter. The situation was last night: tie game, eighth inning, with a need for a lefthanded bat.
There was a fastball from a fastball pitcher, Jonathan Broxton. Stairs, a part-time high school hockey coach and the third Canadian to play at least 1,500 games in the big leagues, crushed it as the Phils beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5, in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
Stairs said afterward that he wanted a hit to feel as if he had made a contribution to this team, so he could get back to the dugout and be the cause of a celebration.
"Getting your [butt] hammered by guys, there's no better feeling," Stairs said.
He had only two home runs in the last two months of the season, including one on the last day of the regular season. He once hit 38 home runs for Oakland, but that was in 1999. He had 11 in 320 at-bats for Toronto. He now has one at-bat in the NL Championship Series. But pinch-hit home runs are his specialty.
"My whole career, even back in my early days . . . my thing was to try to hit the ball out of the ballpark," Stairs said.
Even in batting practice, that's all he tries to do. "I'm not going to lie," Stairs said. "I try to hit home runs."
"Yes, he does," interjected Shane Victorino, the night's other home-run hero, who was at the podium with Stairs.
"When the big guys aren't necessarily driving the ball out of the ballpark, at least we have a strong bench," Stairs said, mentioning that the lefthanded pinch-hitters, Geoff Jenkins, Greg Dobbs (a starter last night), and Stairs, had formed a little fraternity, talking about situations.
Last night, Stairs knew he was going to bat late. He said he got "lots of notice'' from manager Charlie Manuel.
"A very professional at-bat," Manuel said later. "He got a fastball and he caught it out front. That's the whole secret of hitting home runs, to get up in the count, [get a] good ball to hit, and catch the ball out front."
Stairs doesn't have to worry about what they think of his abilities in the clubhouse.
"I liked the matchup," Jayson Werth said of Stairs' taking on Broxton. "It was power versus power."
at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.
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