Matt Davis answered the phone Monday at his office in Jupiter, Fla.
"Let me close the door," he said.
Yes, this could take a while. The topic of conversation: His son Taylor, an overnight sensation 20 years in the making.
Matt and wife Julia debated coming to Wrigley Field for Saturday's game. Taylor had given them a one-day heads-up that he would be catching Yu Darvish for the Cubs against the Cardinals so Willson Contreras could rest. They decided to stay home, wanting to be in a room of two, not a ballpark of 39,601.
"We pulled the shades," Matt said. "Turned the phones off."
Matt knows the game, having played outfield at Wright State in Ohio. With the Cubs down 5-1 in the fourth and two runners on, he predicted to Julia that Albert Almora would drag a bunt to try to load the bases. Almora did but got thrown out.
The Cardinals then intentionally walked Kyle Schwarber to set up a double play. It was the obvious move, right? Just look at the Cubs' third-string catcher.
Amid a clubhouse of Under Armour mannequin physiques (Kris Bryant, Jason Heyward), Davis is built like a tree stump and looks like he just walked off a construction site. You could stash sunflower seeds in his beard.
Matt recalls the scouts who snickered at the "short, fat kid" and told Taylor, "With your body type, you're wasting your time."
Underestimated too many times to count, Davis stepped in Saturday against right-hander Michael Wacha.
The battle pitted Wacha, a 6-foot-6 first-round draft pick in 2012 who signed for $1.9 million, against Davis, a squat 5-10 who, at 29, had only five major-league hits and zero home runs. The hometown Marlins called his name in the 49th round in 2008.
"Kind of a mercy pick," Matt recalled.
Wacha's first pitch was a 90 mph fastball that cut right into the zone. Davis obliterated it. His father knew immediately.
"I've seen that swing 10,000 times," he said. "I started screaming. My wife would not get off the couch until she actually saw it land. She said, 'He's catching it.' I said, 'No way!'
"My wife went to her knees. We began to lose feeling."
As the ball sailed 416 feet, almost to the back of the left-field bleachers, Cubs play-by-play man Len Kasper hollered: "Davis in the air ... deep left ... it is GONE! That's a grand slam to tie the game. Whoa, baby!"
Davis celebrated with two-handed high fives from Javier Baez, David Bote and Schwarber. Heyward tapped him on the helmet.
As Davis returned to the dugout, analyst Jim Deshaies asked wryly: "How many casual Cubs fans are going: Who's Taylor Davis? Where'd we get him?"
