Photos: 2008 Phillies
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They hit line drives, they hit to the opposite field, they practice different strokes against pitches high and low, inside and out.
Except Matt Stairs. He tries to hit home runs on every pitch. It is why the 40-year-old is still in the big leagues. It is what he does.
"All he does is hit bombs," Jimmy Rollins said. "I'm taking ground balls, but I always stop and watch a couple balls leave the yard. You think, maybe if he hit a line drive, it would transfer into the game. But whatever he did before [Monday's] game he needs to keep up."
Monday night, Stairs hit another bomb, in the eighth inning and not batting practice. It won a pretty big game for the Phillies, and now the team is one win from the World Series, with a big assist from a guy who had just 19 previous at-bats in a Philadelphia uniform.
"You're not always going to hit a home run in that situation," Stairs said, "but when it happens, it's a good day for the Phillies."
Monday was a good day for every member of the Phillies, but it was a particularly good day for retiring general manager Pat Gillick.
When the Phillies were fine-tuning their roster for the end of the regular season and the postseason run, Gillick was criticized by radio wiseguys and computer jockeys - including this one - for not doing enough to put the team over the top.
Honestly. The team is this close and you get Joe Blanton, Scott Eyre and Matt Stairs?
The bigger names that were out there - CC Sabathia, Rich Harden, Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr., Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Bay - went somewhere else. The Phillies got Blanton as a starter, Eyre as a lefthanded reliever, and Stairs as a lefthanded hitter on the bench with some pop. Big deal.
As it turns out, all three were involved in Monday's 7-5 win over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. Blanton pitched in and out of trouble for five innings, giving up three runs before turning the ball over to the bullpen. Eyre pitched to a pair of lefthanders in the pivotal sixth inning, when the Dodgers scored twice to take a narrow lead but were held there. And Stairs . . . well, he broke a 5-5 tie with a two-out, two-run home run, his first hit in more than two weeks.
"Great pickup. That's one of those small, behind-the-scenes moves that people might not give a lot of attention to," leftfielder Pat Burrell said, "but look how the guy helped us get to this point."
Stairs came to the Phillies on Aug. 30, the last day to acquire players and have them eligible for the postseason, in a trade with Toronto for pitcher Fabio Castro. Eyre joined the team on Aug. 7 from the Cubs in exchange for minor-league righthander Brian Schlitter. Blanton was traded to the Phillies from Oakland on July 17 for prospects Adrian Cardenas, Josh Outman and Matt Spencer.
It didn't seem as if the Phillies gave up much and, at the time, it didn't seem as if they got much in return, either. Not when other teams were getting guys like Sabathia and Ramirez.
"We were all brought in as little pieces to the puzzle, and, hopefully, the puzzle is complete when it is time to go to the playoffs," Eyre said. "I was brought in to fill a little void. J.C. Romero was the only lefthanded reliever out there. Pat Gillick and [assistant general manager] Ruben Amaro took a chance after this guy in Chicago [Cubs manager Lou Piniella] said, 'I don't think this guy can pitch anymore.' And the GM there said, 'OK, I'll get him out of here for you.' "
Eyre has filled his role and so has Blanton, who was 4-0 in 13 starts for the Phillies after the trade and was the starting pitcher in the NL division series clincher against Milwaukee. When Kyle Kendrick and Adam Eaton proved to be undependable as the fourth starter, Blanton took the ball, pitched his innings, and gave the Phils a chance most nights. That's all he's asked to do.
"To go this far in the playoffs, it's a 25-man effort - and sometimes in September, it even takes a few more," Blanton said. "It takes everybody to make it. After I got to the team, within a short period of time, I found out how these guys approach the game and how hard the team plays no matter the score. A lot of good things happen when you think like that."
It takes some luck along the way, but it also takes having the right parts in place to create the luck. Gillick's moves weren't headline-makers at the time, but those guys are making the headlines now and Gillick is having the last laugh.
"You never win with the first 25 guys you start with," Eyre said. "I'll go out on a limb and say it's never happened. It's all about finishing the puzzle."
Tonight, the Phillies will take those pieces and try to make the World Series. If they do, before the first game, Matt Stairs will take batting practice and swing for nothing but home runs. Why change now?
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