Phillies fans leave Citizens Bank Park in shock after Game 7 loss: ‘I’m gutted. I’m sick.’

Phillies fans are legendary for turning Citizens Bank Park into a roaring, intimidating Red Sea, venue of the biggest home-field advantage in baseball, something to be feared especially by these visitors from the desert.

Yet something clearly was different, from even before the beginning, Tuesday night. A certain unmistakable tension was palpable, as though the fans were on their way to a first date.

Like so many first dates, this one didn’t go well. It ended with all the drama of a sunset during a heavy overcast, with a weak fly to right field for the final out of the game that made the Arizona Diamondbacks, those upstarts from the desert, the unlikely National League champions with a 4-2 win.

“I’m gutted, I’m sick,” said Matt Trate. He remained in his seat while the Diamondbacks celebrated, and Phillies fans exited wiping away tears. “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed.”

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Like just about everyone else, he was mystified by the silence of the bats in Games 6 and 7.

”In the postseason, your best guys have to be your best guys,” Trate said. “They weren’t the last two games.”

Carly Lare, of Royersford, Montgomery County, said that watching the Diamondbacks’ postgame revelry was kind of like watching a train wreck. It was horrible, she said, but she couldn’t look away.

”I just love this team so much,” said Lare, who came to the game with her mother, Jean Lare.

No need to worry about pole climbing this time around, or celebratory traffic jams.

Before the game, fans such as South Jersey’s Duke Newsom, a retired law enforcement officer, engaged in the standard bravado. Newsom, wearing as red spiky wig, had dyed his goatee red and showed up early to shout his support.

“You’ve got this! We’ve got your back,” he screamed from the right-field stands to players as the Phils took batting practice.

Helen Pooler, who drove from Cape May and sported a Phanatic hat that was crocheted by her sister, said, “These are just the kind of games this team is built for. They’re going to shine.”

They did.

The Diamondbacks, that is. They outpitched, outhit, outran, and outplayed the stunned defending league champs at their own house.

Newsom and Pooler, however, like everyone else who came to the stadium to witness the Phillies’ first Game 7 in the team’s 141-year history, saw a performance a little livelier than the Phils’ listless performance in Game 6 — but not much. And at least on Tuesday night, it appeared that most fans stayed until the last dismal out.

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The Diamondbacks’ scoring the first run and the sights of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper flailing at third strikes in the first inning did nothing to mitigate the anxiety.

Arizona would calm the Red Sea of fandom and transform the Bank into a cauldron of tension.

The crowd did come to life in the second inning when Alec Bohm tied the game with a homer, the ball caught by Drayton Laverio, 26, who made the three-hour trip from Sunbury, Pa., with his wife.

A lifelong fan, Laverio, hoarse and visibly excited, said he had “no words” to describe how he felt. At that moment he was convinced the Phillies would go on to win, a sentiment, no doubt shared by most of the folks in the stands.

But it wasn’t to be. It takes more than fans and decibels to win a pennant.

As the Phillies faithful slowly trickled out of the Bank and the Diamondbacks celebrated on Philadelphia soil, Tom Szymanski, 37, sat pensive in his seat.

The Cherry Hill resident had already bought his flight to Dallas, anticipating attending a World Series against the Texas Rangers. Disappointment did not adequately capture how he felt. Szymanski said the team let him down.

”They blew it,” he said.

As so many others, Delco resident Cindi Aleardi, 64, still wasn’t sure where it all went south.

But South Philly resident Gerri Finnegan, 70, had seen this movie before. She never got over the collapse of the 1964 Phillies, who blew a 6 1/2-game lead in a 10-game end-of-season losing streak.

Still, hardened Philadelphia fans clearly had embraced the 2023 Phillies. The seemed to charm a whole region, attracting new sports fans.

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”They have the talent,” said Aleardi. “I don’t know what happened, but we love them, we’ll always love them, they’re our guys.”

Finnegan said she is ready to believe once more, that she was encouraged by the nucleus of the team, and looked forward to spring training.

The exiting fans, some putting their shirts back on, said their tearful and drunken goodbyes to friends.

Carly and Jean Lare tried to hang in the ballpark as long they could.

As the Arizona players kept celebrating, they remained in the stands. They didn’t want to let go of what had been a magical season.

Eventually, Phillies employees moved them along, eager to close down the ballpark after what truly was the last game of the season. The Lares said they didn’t want to go.

”It’s just so sad,” said Carly Lare.