BOSTON -- Seven years ago today (June 12, 2010), Daniel Nava hit a grand slam in his first major league plate appearance. Then a member of the Red Sox, he crushed a 1-2 fastball into the right field stands off Phillies starter Joe Blanton.
Ironically, Nava has returned here to Fenway Park on the seventh anniversary wearing a Phillies uniform.
The Phillies and Red Sox begin a four-game home-and-home series in Boston today.
"Everything came together to make that day special," Nava told MassLive.com today. "And whether I got a hit or I didn't, that was not what made the day so special. I never expected to be called up. So to be called up, was the first part of this whole thing. To be like, 'I'm actually in the big leagues. What? Unbelievable.' So from there I just tried to take it one step at a time."
Nava's professional career began in Independent Ball, making his story even more improbable. The Red Sox signed him Jan. 17, 2008 after he played for the 2007 Chico Outlaws.
"They told me (about the major league promotion) the day before but it was also, 'We're not sure if we're going to activate you. We have to wait and see if someone goes on the DL.'" Nava recalled. "So that kind of tempered the excitement, so to speak.
"Start to finish, it was a special day, obviously," he added. "For things to end the way they did production-wise was just a bonus. But I know I wasn't trying to (homer). What happened just happened that way."
Nava played for the Red Sox from 2010-15. He batted .267 with a .357 on-base percentage, .387 slugging percentage, .744 OPS, 23 homers, 87 doubles and 169 RBIs in 424 games.
He slashed .303/.385/.445/.831 in 134 games during 2013 when Boston won a World Series title.
Nava said his health this year has reminded him of how lucky he has been. He appeared in just 60 games in 2015 and 54 games last year.
"This is one of the first years (in a while), besides that little hamstring thing, I've felt good physically," Nava said. "It's reminded just how blessed I am to play this game but grateful for the opportunities that I have, the opportunities that the Sox gave me. They are the only team that gave me a shot out of Indy ball. And so that's something that holds a special place for me."
Nava is batting .313 with a .434 on-base percentage, .493 slugging percentage, .926 OPS, three homers, three doubles and 10 RBIs in 35 games (67 at-bats) for the Phillies.
Nava has never been one to look at his stats during the season. He avoids it.
"I'm going off just the quality of at-bats," he said. "I feel like I'm having some quality at-bats. And I've been able to repeat that, thank God. So we knew who the starters were coming into the year and my role was to come off the bench and just be ready. So I've been trying to just be ready."
The Phillies are last in the NL East with a 21-40 record (.344 winning percentage). But he likes the challenge of playing on a rebuilding team.
"We've got a young team. We're just trying to learn how to win, how to play together as a team on the fly, which has its pros and its cons. It's a good reminder of how there's more to this game than what meets the eye. And it teaches me how to do the little things right.
"I played on the other side over there with so many guys with veteran leadership. It's almost like you're expected to play the game a certain way. And I picked up on that and tried to. Still had things I had to learn. But here, it becomes more apparent how those little things really impact the outcome of a game."
He's the veteran now.
"Yeah, oddly enough," he said. "There's a couple guys like Howie (Kendrick) and (Joaquin) Benoit who have been (playing) 10, 14 years. But then after that, there's not too many guys that have very much major league service time."