I don't know about you, but when I laid my head upon the pillow last night, I gave a little prayer of thanks for the baseball phenomenom that is Matthew Wade Stairs.

And, no, I'm not a Phillies fan. Rather, I'm just a guy who, in these most uncertain times, enjoys the fact that there is still a place for a pudgy 39-year-old Canadian slugger whose expectations for himself are exactly the expectations that others have placed on him.

Indeed, to watch Stairs' TV interview after hitting a mammoth game-winning 2-run homer off Jonathan Broxton in the Phillies' 7-5 victory on Monday night was to watch a man operate completely within himself. Operating with the same stoicism he uses while coaching high school hockey, Stairs looked as if he had just punched the clock after another day at the office and was ready to go home to the newspaper and the dog. 

What, praise him for a job well done and then ask him about the improbability of his pinch-hit appearance and first postseason home run? No, thank you, sir, because Stairs is a player who completely realizes his lot in this baseball life that has lasted 17 seasons. 

"Well, I mean, my whole career, even back in the early days when I signed back whenever with Montreal, my approach was try to hit the ball out of the ballpark. And it's something I enjoyed doing."

"In batting practice I try to hit every ball out of the ballpark. And I'm not going to lie, it's fun, when you're there and you're hitting balls out of the ballpark."

"I think the biggest thing is get up there, see how far you're going to hit the ball. I'm not going to lie, I try to hit home runs and that's it."

Ah, yes, in the end, there is always a bat, a ball, a pitcher, an outfield wall and Matthew Wade Stairs, trying to combine 'em all to do what he was put on this great big Earth to do.

To quote The Stranger: I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that.

(For another postgame quote from Stairs, this one a little more unfortunate the ones above, check out The Fightins' this morning.) 

Related: 2008 MLB playoffs, 2008 NLCS - Dodgers vs. Phillies