‘We’re friggin’ pumped’: Phillies’ bats — and their fans — propel the team to the NLCS
Momentum was on the Phillies' side Thursday night as they dispensed with the Braves in a 3-1 victory, advancing to the National League Championship Series.
How could they lose?
On an electric night at Citizens Bank Park, with Nick Castellanos slamming his third and fourth home runs in two nights, Johan Rojas leaping through the air to shut down a possible rally, and nearly 46,000 fans screaming themselves hoarse through it all, all signs pointed in one direction, fan Oscar Alvarez said: a Phils win.
“We have the best players on the planet,” said Alvarez, dressed in a head-to-toe Scooby Doo costume, a nod to Castellanos’ favorite cartoon character.
Momentum was on the Phillies’ side Thursday night as they dispensed with the Braves in a 3-1 victory, advancing to the National League Championship Series, propelled by their bats and by a healthy dose of fan energy.
When Matt Strahm struck out Vaughn Grissom in the top of the ninth, sealing the National League Division Series for the Phillies, it was really real, but fans felt it before the first pitch was even thrown.
Before some Phillies games, superfan Katelyn Stosius is nervous.
Not Thursday night. The team was loose and so was she.
“We’re friggin’ pumped,” said Stosius.
The noise, the pressure on Braves Game 4 starter Spencer Strider, the lingering animosity toward Bryce Harper-taunting Orlando Arcia? Bring it on, said Stosius, of Blackwood.
“This is what we win on,” she said.
Stosius’ husband, Zach, was also confident, mostly because he was holding in his right hand their daughter Presley’s toy, a combination light-up phone and piano. It was good luck, Zach Stosius said: One game into the Phils’ wild-card series, the toy started lighting up and the Phillies started scoring. Ever since, Stosius activates it when the Phillies need a little oomph.
“We’ve got the rally lights, we’re good,” said Stosius.
The volume was up all night at Citizens Bank Park. Just the way Mike Mangini likes it. Bring on the things out-of-towners say about Philly sports fans: too loud, too obnoxious.
“That’s all the things I love about us,” said Mangini, who lives in Landenberg, Chester County, and attended Game 4 with his wife, Kerri. “I don’t want the Braves to feel welcome in this ballpark. I don’t want anyone to feel welcome in this ballpark but us.”
Brandon Carroll, an Orioles fan from Baltimore, felt welcome, but he assimilated, buying a black Phillies jersey and red cap to get the full Phillies fan experience.
After Carroll’s team was eliminated from the postseason, he bought tickets to Thursday’s Phillies-Braves game and drove up I-95 to experience what he heard was a magical — and maybe a little frightening — place to watch a game.
“I was told that I shouldn’t wear Atlanta gear,” said Carroll.
Earsplittingly loud Citizens Bank Park was everything Carroll was promised. When he watched an earlier Phillies playoff game from the comfort of his living room, the ballpark was louder through his TV than any O’s game he’d been to in person.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Carroll, smiling.
Eduardo Hernandez, a Phils diehard since he arrived in the area from his native Mexico in 1999, had a Phillies P shaved into his head when he got a haircut Thursday. It felt like a good omen for the Phils’ luck, he said, but really, they didn’t need it.
“I love this team,” Hernandez said. “The heart. The courage. The attitude. Everybody hates us, but we don’t care. We love each other, and that’s all that matters.”