Sports

PHILS NEEDED STAIRS’ BAT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Matt Stairs was ready, willing and shackled.

The Phillies obtained Stairs in late August for just the situation that arose last night in the bottom of the sixth, Game 2 of the 104th World Series. He had a bat in hand, a purpose in front of him, but not a manager with the wisdom to deploy him.

Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. Maybe the Phillies were going to lose last night no matter what. They certainly deserved to lose what manager Charlie Manuel called “one of our sloppiest games of the year.”

Yet Tampa Bay could not break this game open, so this precious contest remained close enough for Philly to steal, when a steal would have provided a Phillies stronghold on this Series. And the best chance to steal came in the sixth inning. Two on, two out, 4-0 Rays.

Dan Wheeler was pitching. Pedro Feliz was up. Wheeler dominates righty hitters. Feliz does not hit righties particularly well. Stairs does, though. That is why on Aug. 30 the Phillies acquired him from Toronto. Lefty-swinging Greg Dobbs was playing third more frequently to keep Feliz away from righty pitching. With Dobbs available less often off the bench, the Phillies wanted an experienced, lefty power bat in his place. Enter Stairs from the Great White North.

Stairs validated that decision with the biggest blow of the NLCS, a pinch-hit, go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 4 against a 96-mph fastball from Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton. And remember that Wheeler had surrendered a key two-run homer to lefty-swinging J.D. Drew in Game 5 of the ALCS that helped the Red Sox rally from a 7-0 deficit.

This promised to be the only sure lefty-righty matchup Manuel could dictate because no one was warming for Tampa Bay. More important the Rays have three lefty relievers in the pen, so Stairs was never going to get this kind of chance to make an impact in Game 2 again.

Manuel, though, said he did not use Stairs there because “Feliz has gotten some real big hits for us” and because he planned to hit Stairs for the next batter, Carlos Ruiz. But with two outs, Manuel could not assure Ruiz’s spot would bat in the sixth and, besides, Ruiz had put together the Phillies’ best at-bats of Game 2 up to then en route to producing two doubles and two walks in four plate appearances.

Feliz grounded out, and the Phillies’ offensive ineptitude persisted. Tampa Bay won 4-2, tying the Series at one game apiece because the Phillies went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position, and the hit was a meek infield single that did not score a run. They have one hit in 28 at-bats with men in scoring position in this series. They survived the offensive malfeasance of Game 1 because Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge were brilliant.

But they could not survive: Having their leadoff man on in six innings, but scoring just once, in the ninth, on an error. Having two runners on in five innings and not scoring any.

With all of that the Phils were going to require a big blow to steal this game, to escape Tropicana Field with two victories. The best opportunity came with Stairs in the sixth. Would he have delivered a huge hit? Maybe. Maybe not.

But Manuel should have been sure to let us all find out.

joel.sherman@nypost.com