Philadelphia takes Stairs way to 3-1 lead

LOS ANGELES - Bapst Memorial High hockey players, take note: Don't be upset if your assistant hockey coach is a little late reporting this year.

You see, Matt Stairs, who lives in Bangor, Maine, and coaches the offense for the Bapst school there, might be busy with the World Series. It's a distinct possibility after he slugged the game-winning two-run homer in the eighth inning last night to give the Phillies a 7-5 win and a three-games-to-one advantage over the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

The 40-year-old Stairs, who once upon a time played for the Red Sox, came over from Toronto in a trade-deadline deal to bolster Philadelphia's bench. Well, guess what?

"It carries over from batting practice," said Stairs. "In BP, I try to hit every ball out of the park. And I'm not going to lie, it's fun. I think the thing is to get up there and see how far you're going to hit the ball. I try to hit home runs and that's it."

At least Stairs can teach his hockey players how to provide big-time offense late in the game.

Stairs's majestic blast came after Shane Victorino - one of the "villains" of Game 3 when he helped precipitate a benches-clearing incident when Hiroki Kuroda threw behind him - wiped out a 5-3 Dodgers lead earlier in the inning with a two-run, line-drive homer off Cory Wade.

The homers stunned a Dodger Stadium crowd of 56,800.

"Very professional at-bat," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel of Stairs. "He worked the count good to 3-and-1 and he got a fastball and he caught it out front. The whole secret to hitting home runs is getting up on the count, and he was able to catch up with [Jonathan] Broxton, who can throw 100 m.p.h."

Victorino insisted, "I try not to let my emotions get to me. They obviously got to me last night [in Game 3]. But you turn the page and forget it. Everybody made their point. I was just up there trying to win a ballgame."

Phillies closer Brad Lidge earned a four-out save, putting runners at first and third in the eighth but retiring the Dodgers emphatically in the ninth to earn his third save of the NLDS.

This was a game in which the Dodgers could have recaptured that much-talked-about momentum and tied up the series. Instead, they let one slip away.

"We have to win the remaining games," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who canceled today's off-day workout after the loss. "We can only do it one game at a time. I sense we'll be back right here with the right attitude [tomorrow] and we'll play hard."

Lidge came on with two outs and nobody aboard in the eighth to face Manny Ramírez, but Ramírez doubled to right-center, reaching base for the fifth time. (He singled in a fifth-inning run and walked three times, twice intentionally.)

Lidge struck out Russell Martin with his signature splitter, but the ball got past catcher Carlos Ruiz and Martin reached first as Ramírez took third.

Lidge got James Loney to fly to left field to end the threat. This was the first time all season Lidge has had to get four men out.

"I'd been preparing for this moment and looking forward to it all year," said Lidge. "I knew I could do it. It's great to be able to get out of a jam like that and pitch a clean ninth inning."

The Phillies came unraveled in the sixth when the Dodgers scored twice to take a 5-3 lead.

It started with Casey Blake's solo homer to left off reliever Chad Durbin to break the deadlock, and escalated on a sacrifice bunt attempt.

After Juan Pierre doubled and Matt Kemp walked, Rafael Furcal laid down a bunt that was fielded by first baseman Ryan Howard. Howard briefly looked to third, then threw wildly to first, allowing Pierre to score the fifth run. The inning ended when Martin lined into an unassisted double play to Chase Utley at second with the bases loaded.

The Phillies, who looked flat Sunday night, came out with more enthusiasm, scoring two first-inning runs against Derek Lowe, who settled down and pitched very well on three days' rest.

The Phillies strung together three straight hits - singles by Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth and a double by Utley - to produce the first run, and Howard grounded out to score Werth with the second.

But Phillies starter Joe Blanton never had this one in the bag.

In the bottom of the first, Furcal led off with an infield single, advancing to second on Andre Ethier's ground out. That led Manuel to walk Ramírez (14 for 25 vs. Blanton) with first base open. But it was a case of pick your poison, because one out later, Loney doubled to right-center, scoring Furcal.

It stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth, which is when Blanton, the former Oakland pitcher whose outs are often hit hard, lost the four-leaf clover.

Blanton walked Furcal to open the inning, and Ethier and Ramírez followed with singles, producing the tying run.

Ramírez's hit drew a throw to the plate, as left fielder Pat Burrell thought he had a play. Furcal ran through third base coach Larry Bowa's stop sign, but he scored anyway and the runners advanced to second and third.

The go-ahead run came in a batter later on Martin's ground out.

Lowe was gone after five, having thrown 74 pitches and done his job, leaving with a 3-2 lead.

But the Dodgers let this one and perhaps the playoffs, slip away.