Matt Freaking Stairs. The 40-year-old who had all of 17 at-bats with the Phillies after being acquired from the Blue Jays on August 30th hit the first postseason bomb of his career in the eighth inning off of Jonathan Broxton as the Phils came from behind to stun the Dodgers 7-5 and go up 3-1 in the NLCS.
Stairs has had a decent career. He has 254 regular-season home runs, which is second all-time among Canadians. But if you’re a Phillies fan did you ever think that a guy who coaches hockey in Maine in the off-season was going to turn into your hero? Stairs, who seemed a little astounded by the whole experience, makes no bones about trying to hit long balls (and man, was it long):
“I try to swing for the fences,” Stairs said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole career. I was very fortunate to square one up tonight.”
Meanwhile, things are going so well for the Rays that Rocco Baldelli is hitting home runs off Red Sox pitching. Baldelli has overcome seven knee replacements and Ebola to get back into baseball, and now his team has a 2-1 series lead over the defending champs. The BOSTON GLOBE’s Amalie Benjamin is panicking a little because Jacoby Ellsbury isn’t getting on base and David Ortiz doesn’t have a hit in the series, while the Rays have hit seven homers in the last two games.
The Giants can take some solace in knowing that most of the sports world was watching baseball last night, because they got their heads bashed in by the Browns, 35-14. The rest of the world rejoices as the Brady Quinn era just got moved back at least another week. And I guess Kellen Winslow’s balls can keep swelling up because his teammates didn’t miss them.
How bad is the upcoming Tampa Bay-Seattle matchup on Sunday Night Football this week? So horrifying that John Madden can’t even imagine sitting through it. The big winner in all of this? Cris Collinsworth, who doesn’t have to hang out with Olbermann and Patrick all night now. (”Dan, have I used ‘it’s deep, and I don’t think it’s playable’ this week yet?”). Of course we all know the real reason Madden is staying home: he can’t miss the season premiere of Frank TV.
• I know you want to see it, so here it is. Footage of a bunch of idiots slamming as many Famiglia pizza slices into their yaps as they can in 10 minutes. Famiglia? I’ve had that garbage in the JetBlue terminal at JFK. I can barely keep one down.
• After the Lane Kiffin firing, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen has turned his attentions to all things Adam Jones. Mort says that if Sir Adam was drinking the night that he got in his bodyguard altercation, that would be violation of his probation and could mean the end of his season.
• ESPN RISE has the odd story of a Florida high school football game that ended 91-0. The winning coach is being told that he ran up the score even though he didn’t even play some of his best players and his team only ran 31 plays.
• The “Thunder” played their first game in the state of Oklahoma last night, a win over the Rockets in Tulsa. The TULSA WORLD can’t contain its excitement.
• Poor Washington State. The SEATTLE TIMES reports that the Cougars have managed to lose yet another quarterback to a serious injury, and will go on Saturday with a guy who has already broken a vertebra this year. I’m giving this guy roughly six plays before he’s carted off the field in a mangled mess. The Cougs are currently 42-point home underdogs to USC.
• The TELEGRAPH’s Gill Hornby wonders how exactly AIG is honoring its ridiculously expensive sponsorship deal with Manchester United.
• Screeching Weasel singer Ben Weasel grew up a Cubs fan, but jumped off the bandwagon when Rick Aguilera gave up a home run to Jason Kendall in 2000, according to his blog, WEASEL MANOR. I managed to stay on the bandwagon until Wil Cordero immediately hit another homer off Aguilera.
• What do you do when you’re playing cricket all day and it starts getting dark? According to FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA, you just go home and call the match a draw.









10:11 am on October 14th, 2008
All this fearmongering I've done, and now we're gonna have Rays-Phillies. I feel somewhat responsible.
10:28 am on October 14th, 2008
Blame Canada?
10:36 am on October 14th, 2008
Good point - if they were gonna play like garbage, best they do it on a night nobody's watching.
10:44 am on October 14th, 2008
NBC should just bring in Caliendo to do his Madden. Who's going to know the difference?
10:45 am on October 14th, 2008
If those competitive eaters were real daredevils, they's be scarfing down anchovy pizza.
10:55 am on October 14th, 2008
On the other hand, Plaxico, the country also missed the one game the Browns actually played well.
11:12 am on October 14th, 2008
For one day at least, I can proudly chant,
Cleveland Rocks! Cleveland Rocks!
Cleveland Rocks! Cleveland Rocks!
11:22 am on October 14th, 2008
I was pretty pissed off yesterday, but I've somehow managed to calm down and realize it's only a 2-1 series lead by the Rays. We took one from them down in Tampa, and I believe we'll take one back in Fenway tonight.
2:17 am on October 15th, 2008
I'm a Stairs fan, and a Phillies fan. I've been glad ever since Philly picked him up! Like they KNEW, someone actually KNEW that Stairsy was IT! They had the foresight to know the man has the abilities and power to do the job! Thank you Matthew Wade Stairs for all you do! I've got his 91 Harrisburg Senators card, autographed at that! I'm just glad the rest of the world can finally see what I've seen all along! GO STAIRS!