NLCS: Small trade makes a big difference for Phillies

The Manny Ramirez deal - as good as it turned out for the Dodgers down the stretch - could be nullified because of one trade that probably was a one-liner in your local paper.

A month-and-a-half later, the Phillies took a 3-1 series lead on Stairs' two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 7-5.

Stairs, 40, is certainly on the last legs of a rather underrated career (.266, 253 homers in 16 seasons). The Canadian-born slugger never hit a homer bigger than the one he struck at Dodger Stadium on Monday evening.

"We talk about it all the time — these kinds of moves matter," said Ruben Amaro, the Phillies' assistant general manager, to the Philadelphia Daily News. "A lot of times, it's not necessarily the principal pieces that get the job done. It's the support players. Pat (general manager Pat Gillick) is very good at this. He knows how to build a team. It's the J.C. Romeros and the Matt Stairs and the Chad Durbins and the Jayson Werths that end up being more important than people realize when the deals are made."

Stairs was ready off the bench on Monday.

"With every pitch I saw, I got a little more confident," said Stairs, to the Edmonton Sun. "I was trying to square one up and swing for the fences. I wasn't going to get cheated."