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October 4, 2011, 9:33 pm
ST. LOUIS ? Holy shot.
No one could have seen it coming. Not the Cardinals or the Phillies, not the fans of either club, not Tony La Russa or Jaime Garcia, not Ben Francisco himself. It was so unexpected, it?s a wonder Bob Brenly?s mustache didn?t blow clean off his face on live television. ?
Francisco sat in the interview room after Game 3 at Busch Stadium on Tuesday and tried to compose himself. He did a pretty good job of it. With the exception of a giddy grin he couldn?t suppress, you never would have known by Francisco?s body language that he had smacked a shocking three-run pinch hit homer to push the Phillies to a 3-2 win and 2-1 lead in the NLDS (see story).
?I didn?t know it was a homer,? Francisco said. ?I thought it was going to be a double. Then I saw it bounce over the fence, and it was just pure excitement, pure joy.?
The last pinch hitter to knock a postseason home run for the Phillies was Eric Bruntlett back in the 2008 World Series. Before that, in the same playoffs, Matt Stairs crushed a monster homer in Los Angeles that saved the season, a ball hit so far it might still be cutting through the Southern California night air.
On the scale of unforeseen events, 1 being obvious and easy to predict and 10 being Ashton Kutcher as any sort of celebrity, the Bruntlett and Stairs theatrics were startling stuff. But this? This was too much. This was beyond staggering. This was enough to knock you over even if you were already sitting down.
Before Game 3 of the NLDS, if you had to pick the most unlikely player on the Phillies to hit a 3-run pinch-hit homer off Garcia ? or any pitcher in the Majors, Minors or California Penal League ? Francisco would have been right at the top of the list. Maybe you would have selected Ross Gload or Wilson Valdez for the role of the most improbable hero. Maybe. But even then Francisco would have to be in the conversation.
Francisco is, after all, the same guy who did exactly nothing after earning the starting right field job at the beginning of the year ? the same guy who hit all of .244 with six home runs in the regular season, was demoted and replaced with even-less productive Dom Brown, and finished the year as one of the fans? favorite punch lines. He took so many shots from the faithful this year, he should be red and round and shaped like a speed bag.??? ?
?I could tell that he was a little disappointed,? Charlie Manuel said about how Francisco reacted when the outfielder was suddenly sitting on the bench during the regular season.? ?He was disappointed because he wasn?t getting to play. But he carried it well. I mean, he carried it good. He?s quiet anyway. I?ve always said about his hitting, Ben can definitely hit hard stuff.?
When Francisco came to the plate in the top of the seventh inning, he did so to replace Cole Hamels, who had pitched a hell of a game, allowing no earned runs and just five hits on 117 pitches in six long, dramatic innings. There were two runners on then ? Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz ? and it was the first time the Phillies looked like they might be stressing out Garcia, even a little. Garcia had thrown such an excellent game to that point that he might as well have been a grown man holding off the flailing, adolescent Phillies with one outstretched arm pressed against their collective, frustrated forehead.
And then, with a 1-0 count, Garcia grooved a sinker that didn?t sink. And then Francisco swung. And then the ball went screaming off his bat and into the Phillies bullpen out in left field.
And then St. Louis sobbed and Philly exhaled.
?Ahead in the count, I was pretty much looking fastball,? Francisco said. ?I know the guy likes his sinker. He was looking to get something up and he left a sinker up.?
Before that, Francisco ? who delivered only the fifth pinch-hit home run in Phillies postseason history -- hadn't homered in more than four months. The three earned runs the Phillies scored off Garcia were as many as the Fightins recorded against the Cardinals lefty in all four of his starts against them combined over the last two years. And during this regular season, Garcia allowed just one earned run against the Phils in 15 innings.
What happened made no sense. But it did happen. Did it ever.
In the clubhouse after the game, reporters rushed to surround Francisco, to ask him about the at-bat and how he was feeling, about getting to Garcia and the win and the whole crazy deal.
?I haven?t really talked to you guys much,? Francisco said. ?Getting the big home run, it means a lot to my family and friends who supported me through kind of a tough year.?
He was cool and calm through it all ? except for the grin. It was still on his face, and probably will be for a while.
E-mail John Gonzalez at jgonzalez@comcastsportsnet.com.
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